Gundam 00 Season 2 Drabble Anthology
by College Fool
Summary: The second anthology. Come enjoy a wide and ever changing range of styles, each piece written within a week of the episode it shadows. AU, abstract, and speculation, oh my! Complete with 24, because 24 was just that good.
1. All Is Not Well

First drabble of the new season. Blatant speculation (see: Soma) and (potential) future spoilers ahoy.

Yeah, I'm pretty confident I'll be right on with some of these, though I also will end up being wrong with some of these as well.

--

All Is Not Well

--

"It's an easy job, boy. All you have to do is walk the streets at night, shouting the hour and that all is well."

"But what if all is not well, sir?"

-Terry Pratchet, "Nightwatch"

--

After the young man has left, Soma turns to Sergei. The revelation still affects her.

"You never told me you had a son," she says. "Why didn't you tell me?" The lesser half is accusing, but the greater half pleading for him to tell her that the visit was just a hallucination, that her life of peace has not just ended, that the man she has come to trust more than anyone else has not spent the entire five years that she has known him lying to her.

Sergei, damn him, averts his eyes.

"We had…" he trails off, seeking the best words to explain it to her (and now she realizes that he has done this far too often: trying to explain to her things any other girl would have understood), and he finally ends with "we had drifted apart."

Soma hears and does not understand. She knows she does not understand, hates that she does not understand, does not _want_ to understand why Sergei would separate from his own flesh and blood.

(Because if he would do so to his own flesh and blood, why wouldn't he do it to her? And then she would be alone once again, but this time having known camaraderie and friendship and family and would know their absence and…)

But she must know. "Why?" is the meaning of what she says.

Sergei still does not look her in the eyes, or look at her at all. He now looks into the past, a past long before she came to know him, and suddenly that scares her.

"I was a soldier once," he says, as if he isn't one now, "and I was much like you. I thought duty was everything, the mission more important than anything else. Country dominated everything: my honor, my life," and here he, the strongest man she has ever known, visibly chokes with remembered shame and weakness, and she wants to rush and put him at ease, as any daughter would (Is that what she is? Or what she wants to be? A few minutes ago she had told him she was not sure, but now she was _confused_ and even a bit _frightened_), but she _must know why_

"And my family."

--

Billy has the woman of his dreams and the love of his life by his side, and still feels as if he has lost everything that matters.

He doesn't know when it started. Maybe with the death of Professor Eifman. True, the man who was the closest thing to a father he can remember would surely have died by now, old as he was, but the man should never have been hunted down…

He doesn't know when it started, but he suspects when it accelerated, when he lost his best friend to the worst of the world government. Graham had been slipping since the loss of his own friends all those years ago, but over time the man had become restless, obsessed with finding a purpose in a time of peace. Even as Billy had been content to retire to a quieter life, the other had strived even harder, looked even harder into every lead of Celestial Being's continued existence…

Billy didn't know where Graham was today, to be honest. Likely with the new anti-Rebel force. Maybe with the rebels. (Billy doubted it, Graham always thought in terms of states and power and authority, but he wouldn't be surprised if, one day, Graham was found in the cockpit of an old flag, fighting against a superior force for the sheer joy of it.)

But while Billy doesn't know how it started, and is unsure when exactly it got worse, he does know where it has come, and that is now in his bed. Sumeragi is miserable, Billy knows, every day and all the time between her smiles to him and their brief moments of happiness. She had never truly recovered from the incident all those years ago, but now it was something more. Murmurs in her sleep have left him suspicious (not that he will ever tell anyone!), looks of pain at every mention of the anti-government rebels only fuel them, but deep down he knows that it's because she has failed again, in some way she will never tell him.

But he wishes she would. He wishes someone, anyone, would come and change things. At this point he doesn't care who, and he doesn't care how, only that soon she might find a focus other than on her failures.

Billy feels as if he's lost everything that matters. He has a feeling he would have to give up everything else for even a chance to get it all back.

--

Louise sits alone. In her room.

It's strange how wrong that feels, though she has done it all her life. A few years ago, she had an opportunity to change that. She wouldn't be alone on a ship full of people, and it wouldn't be 'her' room.

But Celestial Being showed up, and changed that. They separated her from everything she had known.

Her family, to almost the last cousin, was dead. A lineage that traced itself back a millennia, wiped out at a single wedding. All that remained of anyone within three relations was herself.

Her home was taken. True, the property still stand there, and the lawyers rush to reassured her that they are in her name. But home was where the heart is, and her heart refused to stay in those large, empty rooms where no life remained.

And then there was him. He was still alive, she knew. He occasionally sent her letters, though she never replied. She couldn't. Not yet. Not since she had met them, and learned that Celestial Being still lived. She couldn't return, even if he would take her, a cripple, until Celetial Being was resolved. Until the world was safer for him.

Louise sat alone, in her room. Tomorrow would be her first combat mission, and an important step to one day reuniting with Saji, if she only she could make it.

But she was still alone, and it was still her room. But maybe it wouldn't have to be that way for that much longer.


	2. Revisitations

You know what? I really don't have any idea for episode 2. Nothing really stood out to me besides how Sumeragi is a pathetic drunk in Billy's house, and that 00 has pretty awesome battle music, so I think I'll go back to something I started way back and season one. Yeah, that's right, a semi-continuation to the AU's I started. Not just one of them, since I had enough of them, but think of this episode as "where would those AU's be now?"

I'm going by the chapter titles of the S1 drabbles, so if you don't remember the AU basis of each part you can check it out over there. The second one is a semi-fusion of two separate ones, though they technically don't work against each other too much.

--

00 Drabble S2 02

Revisitations

--

Butterfly Effect. Noun. A commonly encountered element in most timelines. It describes the secondary, minor effects of every Divergence that add up over time. While every Divergence has very direct consequences that can be detailed and explained in the timeline itself, it of course also, realistically, changes the lives of thousands or millions of people in the timeline in ways too small to describe in detail, but may also cause tremendous visible changes.

--

1: Alterations

Part of Sumeragi is relieved that the blond man in front of her is no longer draped over the couch, passed out in a drunken heap of misery. Too many times she has seen the man stagger inside, supported by her husband, and too many times has she thought "there but for the grace of god go I" while remembering that it was her own actions that helped bring this to be. He was not only her husband's friend, but in a way he was her responsibility as well. He always had been since that day, and seeing an ember of spirit in his eyes once again gives her hope that he is recovered from his malaise.

But that is only part. The other part is a kaleidoscope of emotions, ranging from shock to fear to guilt to a raw hatred in the memory of her late teacher.

But if any of that shows on her face as she stumbles back into Billy's own shocked body, neither their former guest nor the young middle-eastern man who has shattered the household pay any heed. It is up to Billy to speak what both wife and husband think.

"Graham…" he begins, but quickly pauses. Too many questions, too many specific avenues of approach. "Why?" Why did he accept _them_? Why did he fight? Why did the Professor have to die like that? Why did he force the world against him? Why had he shown up on their door that day three years ago, coming back into their lives?

Why was he once again leaving? Why return to Celestial Being, who caused so many deaths and so much damage?

"The world hasn't changed enough yet," the blond man says as if it is the only explanation anyone needs, and though his clothes are disheveled, his complexion ugly, an unkempt stubble shows, and the smell of alcohol hangs in the air as he leans against the wall, these is no doubt _he is alive again_. "It still hasn't changed, Billy, and someone has to act again. Act against the A-Laws"

The young man beside him moves closer, and Graham loops an arm around his shoulder with familiar ease. "We have to go now. Someone is waiting for us," says the young man to Graham as if the owners of the apartment don't exist, and he begins to turn Graham around.

"Graham!" Billy calls impotently, and now Sumeragi can see there is no hope to stop the disgraced Union pilot. Soon once again they will be on opposite sides of the battlefield, just as they were five years ago as she helped lead the United Nations campaign in space, as she tore apart his life and left him a broken man for a second time.

Before he walks out the door, though, Graham turns his head to look back at them. A sad smile is on his face. "Goodbye, Billy," he says, and then turns to meet her eyes, "Sumeragi. I truly do thank you both."

The door closes, and the married couple eventually guide eachother back into the living room. When Billy throws a glass at the wall in frustration, Sumeragi says nothing and silently helps herself to a bottle of liquor still on the table.

--

2. After-Quakes of a Triumph

--

Five years was a long time.

Not in the cosmic sense, mind you, or the geological sense, or in any sense that didn't take human beings into consideration. But in terms of politics, people and world events, five years can be a lifetime.

Shirin Bakhtiar barely remembers a time when she served as an advisor to Princess Marina, ruler of Azadistan, now one of the most prosperous, stable countries in the Middle East now that it has access to the solar energy system. Not since the Celestial War ended with the Union breaking the GN-drive technical barrier and embarking on a pan-Union campaign to drive Celestial Being back to the edge of space. About the only thing that could have preserved the old world order would have been if the other powers had been able to reverse engineer their own captured gundam parts, but even at the height of the Celestial War the Union had refused the least amount of technical or theoretical cooperation with its European and League rivals. Many had warned and berated the Union at the time, but the reason for their refusal was clear now. Only a naïve fool would have expected the Union to throw away its key to global dominance.

Celestial Being is still out there, of course. No one ever found their GN drives, and a mobile suit is a simple thing to build. Even when the Union had started production of its own prototype GN-tau drives, Union mobile suits were still woefully outmanned by the Gundams right up until the final battle in space. The fact that tau-drives could even be produced with contemporary technology means that Celestial Being could make a fleet of Gundams, given enough time.

Unfortunately, only the Union had gained mastery over GN-physics, through their secretive and hidden research base. The remnants of the other powers were easily decades from understanding the theory, and that would be without the Union's enforcers hunting down all attempts to do so. Still, it warmed Shirin's heart to know that, somewhere, some Union intelligence officer was having an ulcer over nightmares of a sudden appearance of dozens of Celestial Being Gundams, even if only those with tau-drives.

But if anybody had a few dozen Gundams laying around in a desolate bunker, no one was offering. Rumors had it that Celestial Being had appeared again, but those few whispers that escaped the Union's feared Minute Men only mentioned Celestial Being's traditional green particles, though rumors were spreading that the Union's own Jupiter science vessel had also been seen to have similar particles. The United Nations was silent on the issue of GN drives regardless, but then the UN was widely recognized as being in the Union's pocket these days. When UN bigshots like Corner family wanted things done, they knew which power to go to. In some ways, it must have been convenient for the UN to have one of the three powers clearly dominant: only one set of elites to know and influence. The real people in power could get things done easily if they only had the right connections.

Shirin has bigger things to worry about than imaginary gundams and the United Nations, though. Union enforcement sweeps and energy control threats keeps the Kataron resistance from getting much of anything from what remains of the once mighty League and European governments, and lately not even space colonies have been safe from the Minute Men, the Union force famous for giving less than a minute's warning before attacking and silencing their opposition. The one bright spot was that even with control over all the orbital elevators, the Union still can't stop the elevator smuggling routes, so transferring supplies from earth to space is still easy. In her few moments of respite, Shirin wonders if that's how Celestial Being did it.

But Shirin is too busy now to contemplate how the Celestial Being of old did it. Even as she walks through the hanger where European Enacts and League Teirens are being maintained, aids brief her on the latest reports. A European Kataron agent has been approached by Celestial Being and promises to report in later. Spy satellites indicate that a Minute Men force in space has engaged in battle, but appears to have withdrawn. Contacts in Europe and Asia have reported that respected retired military personnel have been approached by the Minute Men under the jurisdiction of the Union's multinational anti-terrorism taskforce, for whom declining to assist is not an option. Intelligence also suggests that the Union is quietly mobilizing its top units, including the famed Overflag Squadron.

As Shirin organizes and manages the workings of the world's largest insurgency movement against Union dominance, she doesn't dwell on the unimportant details of five years ago. Celestial Being may have killed many good men and women, soldiers and scientists alike, but the Minute Men are a threat now. The Union veterans of the Celestial War are as much a threat as Celestial Being ever was.

--

3. To Be Gundam

--

Neena stands before the confinement cell, hand raised over the open switch, and for the first time in a long time, she hesitates.

Tiera stood behind her watching. "Are you going to talk to him or not?" asked the purple haired Meister, no sympathy in his voice. Even though she had long since proven her loyalty to Celestial Being, the other Veda-link had never truly warmed to her like Felt or Ian had. And he was never shy to remind her of that.

"It's hard, okay?" she snapped, turning to face him. "Whether you believe it or not, I've changed since then!"

Tiera raised an eyebrow. "If so, why are you still out here?"

Neena grunted and spun around, letting the strength of ego press the button. The door slid open, and she could have sworn she heard Tiera smother a grunt of laughter. A moment later, she saw why. Saji Crossroads hovered in the lack of gravity, asleep, and likely had been for the entire time she had been standing there.

--

"Have you talked to him yet?" asks Setsuna later, sitting in a chair in what passes for a recreation room on the new ship. He doesn't look up from the manual of the 00, but Neena can tell that he's paying attention. Over the past few years, she has learned to pick up on the way he holds a book or the way his ears turn to focus.

"No," she admits from a couch nearby. "When I went, he was sleeping. I didn't think it would be right to wake him."

Setsuna grunts, but says nothing else. He turns a page, and for a short while there is a companionable silence. She reads about her own suit's maintenance: though the Drei remained serviceable for the time she and Setsuna wandered outside of Celestial Being, it had since begun to lag behind the Federation A-Head and GN-XIII models. Upgrades upon their return to Celestial Being were appreciated, but required readjustments.

The silence continues for awhile, until Neena cranes her neck to glance at Setsuna. "Do you think he will ever forgive me?" It is a valid question: the civilian man had come close to shooting Setsuna before his confinement, and she still has yet to tell him the truth.

"I don't know," Setsuna admits. "It's been several years since I've seen him, and even then I didn't know him well." Even so, Neena can tell that he is attentive and more concerned towards the detainee. Setsuna has discreetly monitored the last Crossroad since his detention, checking to see that he has eaten his meals and is taking care of himself. Even asking her if she had talked to him was a sign that he… cared? Even after so long, it could be hard to tell what exactly he felt about others.

"What will you say?" he asks before another silence can set in.

"The truth," Neena says. "As to how…" she trails off, and looks away. She's not given to uncertainty often, but this issue is different. Growing up has underscored just how irresponsible she had been at the time, and there was no excuse for her actions. Even if she tried to take responsibility now, though, what difference would it make?

"No one will force you to talk to him," Setsuna pointed out. "Lockon told me that no one will tell him if you don't." His suggestion, offer, was too attractive. He was even right: she had fought hard and honestly to defend Celestial Being during the final phase of the war, and helping save the life of Lockon Stratos had endeared her to most of the crew, even though she had quickly left without permission to search for Setsuna after the final defeat. She had found him in the remains of the Exia's cockpit, but he had asked her not to return him to Celestial Being. She had traveled with him ever since.

Five years ago she might have taken his offer of the easy way out. Five years ago, she hadn't chosen to emulate him. "No," she answered colder than she intended. "I will do this." Her posture relaxed, and she smiled and gave a victory sign. "Gotta follow the Gundam way, right?" she joked with a wink, hoping to restore the mood.

Setsuna looked up from his manual and met her eyes. "I know you will," he said. "That's what I told Lockon."

Neena flushed at the highest compliment he would gave.


	3. FUBAR

Don't get me wrong. I don't watch Gundam for military realism, though little attempts at it make me happy. But this last episode…

Interrogating a head-of-state for a 5-second conversation four years ago? Putting an amateur pilot in a no-longer next-generation MS right before assaulting a maximum-security prison guarded by professionals? The rather ludicrous combat hanger of the Ptolemy? Having the most powerful MS in the world just stand there behind an intermittent GN-field, rather than sending a commando of your own?

The horrible, atrocious pistol usage/skills by both sides? Shooting off leather restraints with a pistol? And how do you miss at five feet?!

I'm sorry, but that's just FUBAR.

Gundam 00 S2 Drabble 03

FUBAR

--

"What is your major malfunction, numbnuts? Didn't Mommy and Daddy show you enough attention when you were a child?"

-Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, Full Metal Jacket

--

-Four Years-

"Four years ago, during the civil unrest in Azadistan, you came into contact with a member of Celestial Being, correct?" The interrogator, dressed in a suit, had all the interest of a rock. Both knew the answer even before he asked it.

"I already spoke of that four years ago," Marina noted.

"The situation has changed since then. A new Gundam has appeared, and you are once again a key figure, First Princess of Azadistan, Marina Ismail."

Marina looked away, and the man leaned forward. "Now tell me, have you come into contact with Celestial Being since then?"

Marina's polite face faded as her forehead wrinkled with a grimace. Frustration was hiding behind a mountain of self-control.

"As I have already said, no. I haven't." 'No, you jackass.'

"Are you aware of how much my own security tightened after that period of unrest, especially after the assassination attempt on myself?" 'I'm not even allowed to go to the bathroom by myself anymore! You know how awkward that is, you oxygen-thief?'

"I have also been very busy helping my country recover and grow. I haven't even had time to meet new people outside of my duties, as many could attest." 'By the Almighty, have you ever run a country before, you empty suit? I don't have the time to be running off for secret rendezvous, and again, my security. See above.'

"I am afraid I can not help you in regards to this new Gundam. As the First Princess, my country needs me to act on their behalf. I request that you release me as soon as possible. 'Some of us have a job and a life beyond revolutions and interrogating innocents, you pathetic excuse for a carbon life form.'

"Besides, it has been a long time since I encountered that gundam pilot. Events and technology have changed so much since then, even if he had told me anything more than he did, it would surely be obsolete by now. I hardly remember what he said anymore, let alone how he said it." 'It's been four years, bastards! Four friggen years!'

Marina Ismail really was too polite for her own good.

--

-Amateur Pilots-

"Is this really the best idea?" Ian asked as he and Lasse watched the new Lockon Stratos work his way through the Cherudim Gundam's controls.

"Hm?" grunted Lasse. "He is the new Meister."

"It's nothing against the man," Ian said, "I don't know him well enough to say anything, even if he does look exactly like the old one. But, to be blunt, he's a rookie. And now that the Federation has GN drives, our own advantage is minimized. Sure, the 00 can wipe the floor with anyone at this point, and trans-am is still our ace in the hole, but at this point our GN-drives are only a bit better than theirs."

"So what? What are you saying?"

"Well," Ian trailed off, scratching his head as one of the many Haro mechanics floated across the room, "even you have more combat experience. Wouldn't it be a better idea for you to pilot it, just this one mission until we get Allelujah back? Then we can make sure he gets more training, that's all."

"I'm sure it will be fine, Ian." Lasse reassured. "Setsuna trusts him, and this won't be a long battle anyway. Besides-"

Lasse was cut off as the Cherudim Gundam took one step back, and walked straight into the wall behind it. Haro mechanics were scattered, and from the cockpit a too-familiar voice yelled "It's alright, I got it! Just mixed up forward and reverse!"

"Besides," Lass continued without his earlier confidence, "I have to pilot the ship, and I can't pilot mobile suits either."

--

-Pinpoint targeting-

"So, the 00 wasn't moving at all, right?"

"Because the pilot had to infiltrate, yes. He has guerilla experience."

"But the prison has security guards. They could have shot him, or held him down, and the entire plan would have failed AND there would have been one less Gundam available, at least until they re-wrote the biometric security."

"It was a calculated risk. The entire plan was based on the first three hundred seconds anyway, so if he had been held up he would have retreated and they would have done it manually."

"It's still stupid, though. They should have had someone else go in. Like us: we're Celestial Being support. This is what our job is, and I'm already a killer. Then they would have had the 00 in the battle from the start. Just how stupid do you have to be to just park it and put the Virtue rip-off and its GN-field parked in front of it?"

"…pardon?"

"Gah, you're so dense. The GN field and the GN-bazooka's can't be used at the same time. All the enemy would have had to do is put a constant barrage aimed at the parked 00, and then the GN-field would never have been dropped, and any one of the suits could have walked up and kicked the shit out of them with a beam saber. Of if the GN-field did drop, the 00 would have been lost. Either way, you have almost the entire attack force pinned down by any two suits that can fire at a stationary point. Even those Tierens. The sniper punk is an amateur, and he wouldn't have been able to stop them. I swear, if I were piloting on the other side, Celestial Being would be dead within a week."

"…shut up, Fon."

--

-Bad Bridges-

Ian opened the door to the confinement cell, and wondered why he specifically had been asked for. The man inside was usually handled by Setsuna or the other Celestial Being members, but the man had specifically asked for the head engineer of the ship.

When the door finished opening, Ian saw man typing furiously at his Haro-linked computer. Even from the distance, he could tell it was a very basic schematic of the ship hanger. He frowned, but trusted that Haro wouldn't have given true blueprints to the wild-card. Or perhaps that was why he had been requested?

"I'm Ian, the engineer for this ship," he started as an introduction. "You asked to see me?"

The young man (Saji, Ian remembered) looked up from his terminal. "Ah, thank you for coming so quickly. I didn't mean to interrupt anything," Saji said politely.

Ian waved it off. "We suffered no battle damage, and the Haro's are maintaining the Gundams." He noticed the young man look at the red Veda terminal in surprise.

"Ah," Saji said once he recovered from the discovery, "you may have heard from Setsuna that I am an engineer, and that I specialized in space construction?"

Ian smirked, pleased that he had predicted why he had been called. "Yes I have. If you're asking to join us as an engineer, it will take awhile before we can clear you but I'd be more than happy to have an extra pair of hands around here. Celestial Being has a wonderful health plan and a good salary, though you won't get to take advantage of it often, but I have to say I'm surprised Setsuna brought you around so quickly. He's usually bad with people, but-"

Saji blanched. "No no," he interrupted, waving his hands in front of his face. "I'm not asking to join Celestial Being. I just wanted to ask why you have a death-trap for a mobile-suit hanger entrance."

Ian was stopped by Saji's refusal, and barely caught the latter half. "…what?" he asked intelligently.

Saji turned the monitor around. "I noticed it first in space when Setsuna brought me in, but I didn't think it would matter as much because in space you can exit out of side hatches as well as a catapult. But now that I see the ship goes underwater, I had to make sure you knew about it, if you didn't know already."

Ian grunted, and Saji took that as a cue to continue. He pressed a key, and a short video showing the hanger door opening played out, with a mock mobile suit going through the accelerator.

"This is how the system works once both doors are open," Saji said, indicating the suit going down the full length of the launcher rail. "But one of the key factors they taught us to remember when designing a hatch system of any sort is to keep obstacles to a minimum, and you have two. Both the top door and the bottom folded extension of the launcher rail have to be able to open for any mobile suit to get in or out, especially out at sea. If the bottom one doesn't open, the top can't open. If the top doesn't open, the Gundams can't launch. And if either gets stuck halfway open, then launching or receiving mobile suits gets much harder. Even without enemy fire, that sort of minor damage can come from debris in space. And the open-outward setup makes it much harder, if not impossible, to open the doors underwater. To be blunt, your hanger doors are far too risky for extreme civilian usage, let alone military action."

It wasn't that Ian didn't agree in part with the detainee. He hadn't designed the door system, but he hadn't exactly argued against them either. But for a young wannabe to come in and start criticizing his ship…

"If you don't want to join us, why do you care anyway?"

Saji looked at Ian as if he were missing a few brain cells. "I don't want to die along with you, you know."

--

-Pistol Marksmanship-

Andrei Smirnov grimaced as the pistol rubbed against raw calloused hands. He hadn't thought that it was possible to get callouses from firing a pistol, but the range instructor, a thin Korean Captain, was doing his best to change that.

"Are you proud that you finally hit the targets, you pathetic excuse for a military officer? Do you think we could send you in to storm Celestial Being's headquarters and hope that you shoot somebody?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Andrei barked, remembering similar shouts back at basic training. Beside him, other security officers were holding their pistols with sinking arms and sweaty hands, showing signs of the hours of 'remedial training' they were all undergoing.

"Well I don't believe you! I don't believe you even think! If I put you on your side and you put one hand under your head and the other under your pampered ass, which do you think would fill up first? Well? Answer me, I don't have all day here!"

"The hand under my ass, sir!" Somewhere, Andrei was sure, there was a list of sergeant analogies that all instructors, regardless of country or language, shared and consulted. The Captain surely took from the same list.

"Well maybe if that hand had been on your gun instead, you wouldn't be here right now! If you had had that hand on your gun, a lot of good men worth far more than you pathetic lot wouldn't have died in vain! Now fire again!"

Andrei and the others loaded their pistols once again and took aim at the moving set of targets, each far smaller than the size of a running fugitive. Unlike at the beginning of the session, nearly all the new holes were in the black of the paper. Nearly, but not all, and Andrei's spirits descended as he realized that the one shot was his own.

"By God, don't they make you pilots maintain your pistol skills anymore?! That must be nice, because we sure as hell never had that luxury back in my day! We knew that a pistol might be the difference between life or death when facing the damn Yanks or those pasty Europeans, and by god did our leaders prove it! The Wild Bear once escaped from an entire squad of German infantry after being shot down during the Fifth Solar War, and you know what he used? Nothing but a god damn pistol! You aren't worthy to walk in his shadow, let alone share his name! Now fire again!"

Andrei reloaded and raised his pistol once again, and wished that he had paid more attention to pistol practice after he had joined the A-Laws.

--


	4. Immediate Thoughts

I do believe I have summed up the important parts of every scene in the episode with perfect and complete clarity.

Or not, but it's still pretty on-target. Much funnier if you aren't watching a sub/dub, and can put in your own words. Definitely more mature tones (read: innuendo and dirty jokes) here than I'm prone to. But at having written this within three hours of watching the episode, allow me some cut corners.

--

Gundam 00 S2 Drabble 04

Immediate Thoughts

--

"So easy, it almost writes itself."

-Too many to count

--

If Hallelujah were still alive, the conversation in their head might have gone something like this.

"Now that you are free from that prison, what do you want to do first? Kill the bastards who kept you restrained for four years? Proceed on the bloodiest intervention in history?"

"No, I think I'd like to remember how I met Marie, which in retrospect may have been the first sign to the Institute that I was crazy, going around and talking to unresponsive girls and all. Ah, Marie…"

"Screw that! You have better things to do than mope about prepubescent minors! Have you seen the tail around you? Feldt's finally legal, and Sumeragi looks like she hasn't aged a day! Don't make me come in there and make you tap that for your own good!"

"I could never do that to Feldt! Besides, it's obvious she's still only interested in Lockon."

"And Sumeragi? I'm sorry, excuse me. 'Miss' Sumeragi? Could you never do that?"

"…"

"I thought so. Here, I'll just tell you what you need to do and leave it to you, though I get first round seats. I know that bottle of wine in your room, which was a nice touch by the way. Now here's what you need to say: remember, she's still fragile and you're just looking to comfort her…"

If Hallelujah were still alive, in other words, it would have gone much the same.

--

"I would like to thank you for helping calm the unrest in my country four years ago," Marina said.

"But…" thought crew, knowing that there always is a 'but.'

"My country may still be a backwater, violence may still flare up, and we are bound to the energy from the very organization you oppose and vow to destroy, but I still thank you for helping my country all those years ago. Now, if you might return me any time soon…?"

--

Lockon Stratos steps out of his Gundam after a mixed simulation, and immediately sees her.

Lockon's ghost, were he around, would already have seen her and likely would have been standing beside her the entire time.

'Amateur. Who does she think she's fooling?' the part of him that is still a resistance agent thinks. He, who has been taught how to watch targets without appearing to, is not impressed when she abruptly turns around, standing still in the middle of the empty catwalk, trying desperately to pretend she had not spent the last several minutes (half hour?) watching his suit while he was in it.

Lockon's ghost, who does not know his brother as a man of mixed loyalties, would have still been preening at Lockon's remarking of his formidable skill.

The equivalent of a casual and suave "what are you doing here?" comes from Lockon's mouth, but her "nothing!" is far from convincing. Haro's helpful supplying of information can leave only one train of thought in his head, even as Feldt looks like she wants to drop-kick the orange ball as her face and ears flush almost as red as her hair.

Lockon's ghost, still oblivious even after all these years, would have flushed and turned to ask Feldt if it were true. It would only be a relief for her that Feldt would not have been able to hear him.

'My brother has a stalker?' Lockon thinks, before another realization sinks in. 'My brother still has a stalker after being dead for four years? A stalker who was a minor at the time? Brother, what did you do while in Celestial Being?'

Lockon's ghost, remembering that another person in the room, would immediately start denying doing anything improper with the former minor. Whether he could be believed, especially had he survived, is questionable.

'Maybe if I creep her out, she'll realize I'm not my brother and stop?' And so, acting with deliberate care as to not be resemble his brother, Lockon kisses the girl.

No one would even notice Lockon's ghost unleash a brutal punch against his brother, because no one could feel it. But one day Lockon would die and become a ghost himself, and then…

Lockon's head turns at Feldt's slap for taking that liberty, of course, and then she run away with tears in her eye. Lockon, who had been slapped far harder for much worse, would turn and walk the other way. 'Looks like that worked. Brother was always one to sit down and talk in situations like that, and Lord knows I don't want to reinforce the idea that I'm him. She'd never stop!'

Lockon's ghost would be torn between continuing a non-effective beat down of his brother, and chasing after the fleeing Feldt. He would growl and do the later only after she was already out of sight, but in doing so he wouldn't be able to hear what his brother muttered aloud.

Lockon suddenly stopped while passing behind his Gundam, terror wiping his dark expression off of his face. 'What if that is what my brother would have done? What if I just encouraged her more, and she comes back later? Brother, why did you have to grow up to be a pedobear?'

Lockon's ghost, not telepathic anyway, would definitely not have heard them as he would be in Feldt's room, formlessly hugging the crying girl and whispering non-effective nothings to try and calm her down.

Lockon's ghost would take too damn long to flee the room after Feldt went into a cold shower to mask her tears, clothed and all.

--

Sumeragi faces a dilemma.

On one hand, she could let the young man holding the wine into her room, where the two of them would be alone. Or she could kick him out, leaving him embarrassed and alone outside his door.

On one hand, she was very glad to see Allelujah safely returned, and he even had the courtesy to bring the gift of a bottle of wine.

On the other hand, there was Billy. She may not have left on the best of terms, but he was someone she held dear, and she didn't want anything that would hurt him.

Back to the first, Allelujah was a grown-up now, and so was she. They were both adults who could make their own decisions. And he had brought wine.

Back to the other, though, Allelujah had spent the last several years tied up to a chair, no movement or exercise. His muscles had atrophied even with the miracles of modern nanotechnology, and he hadn't even had the release of his left (or right) hand for four long years.

But he had brought wine.

Sumeragi let him into the room. It was just a welcome surprise when he wanted to talk about some long-lost girlfriend.

--

Kati was not impressed, and doubted she would ever be impressed by the two men in front of her, no matter how competent they might (or might not) turn out to be.

'Has he no pride in himself?' wondered Kati. Her superior, having missed no meals in the last several years at least, was far from the image of military discipline that Kati represented and expected. Overweight, hair unkempt, and nearly sprawling over his couch, she could only wonder how anyone let him disgrace himself like that, regardless of his achievements.

She glanced at the other. 'Does he work to look like that? No one looks that petty evil without trying.' Though the other man was disciplined in appearance, Kati liked him no better. Maybe it was his silver hair was parted to emphasize the slanted eyebrows, or the way his narrow eyes highlighted his narrow nose, or the sharp chin, or the smile of smug condescension. Likely it was all of them and more. But Kati, in the first few seconds, pegged him as likely to be ineffectual.

'These people really need to work on first impressions,' thought Kati. She should know: the first impression she had made on people had even given her a devoted suitor.

--

"So, how does it feel to conspire with Celestial Being," asked Ian from his position under the low opening.

"I get to stretch my legs under gravity," Saji admitted. "Being weightless in a cell for a week is no fun."

"But now you actually have been complicit in aiding Celestial Being," Ian pointed out. "The A-LAWS could do anything they wanted to you now, and be perfectly legal. And all because you're passing me tools." A pause. "Wrench."

Saji passed him the tool. "As long as I'm kept here, the safety of the ship is my safety. Battle damage doesn't help me at all, especially when we're underwater," he said. "I get out of the cell, talk to people other than Haro, and help keep myself alive. I see nothing wrong with that."

Ian grunted, and a silence passed before he asked "What's wrong with talking to Haro?"

Saji became abruptly aware of the number of large, potentially dangerous maintenance armors in the hanger. All of them piloted by Haros. All of whom had stopped their work and rotated to look at him as he gave his answer.

"Nothing!"

--

The attack was sudden and without warning. Both Setsuna and Marina fell against the wall. Setsuna recovered first, and ran to the hanger.

"Setsuna!" Marina called.

"Stay here!" he yelled back as he ran. "Stay where it's safe!" And then he was out of sight, behind another door.

Marina paused, even as the ship shook even more. "Did he mean stay here in the hallway, or to move to another room? He said stay, but…" she wondered.

Five minutes later, the hallway was flooded, blast doors locking and keeping the seven feet of seawater and anything else locked in.

--

It wasn't a bad battle plan, Kati admitted, even if she would have put much more security overhead and not just relied on a single mobile armor. But did the silver-haired man have to try and make poetry out of it?

--

'That was so cool,' thought the young helmsman on the bridge when Mr. Bushido body-checked the charging Gundam. Already he was thinking of how he could get a copy of the battle video from a friend.

'That was amazing,' thought the communications officer, heart racing after near-certain death. 'No one back home will ever believe this.'

'He's a miracle,' though both the female radar operator, blood rushing from her heart to her face and certain other places. Mr. Bushido would have yet another admirer after today, this time of the fairer gender.

'He looked so impressive while I was flinching!' a certain silver-haired officer reflected in his upcoming humiliation. 'Why did my plan fail while he shows me up?'

'He realized that using a beam saber to cut would have still left the bridge in danger of the inertia of the remains, and so opted instead to tackle despite the risk of the sword. Impressive,' analyzed Soma as she saw the live video stream as her own A-HEAD prepared to launch. 'I should look into the pilot after this.'

'He really is an ace,' admitted Andrei to himself, who had seen the mysterious Mr. Bushido before but knew little about the usually silent masked man. The younger Smirnov resolved on the spot to find out more about the man, including his intentions and goals.

'That man is good,' Allelujah knew instantly as he approached the Federation carrier. 'He handled that impact like it was nothing.'

'To be able to calculate the trajectories for interception like that, that man must be a master at high-speed combat,' analyzed Sumeragi from aboard Celestial Being's mothership. 'He will be dangerous.'

There were no words for Louise as she watched the impact through her own Veda connection. None were needed: anyone who would attack the Gundams like that had her respect and approval.

There were no words for Setsuna as well, but for different reasons. He never even knew what hit him until he was well clear of the carrier, and so could have no thoughts on the matter at that time.

'Patrick could have done that better,' was Kati's first thought on the matter.

--

"Don't worry, you'll be safe with them," Setsuna said, indicating the assembled Kataran rebels.

Marina looked at the assembled rebels. A group as diverse as their ethnicities, some from Europe, some from Africa, and a few she recognized wearing garb of her own country. There were several dozen of them, many were armed, and all were looking at her and smiling, welcoming her to join them.

They were all male.

"Setsuna…" Marina said, inching closer to the man she had never seen have a hormonal desire.

Then from the side came a face Marina had not expected to see: Shirin. And at seeing the look in Shirin's eyes, Marina did not feel any safer.

--

After the initial formalities and pleasantries, the commander smiled at his younger relative. "While I am glad to see you here, Billy, please don't tell me you had another breakup."

Billy blinked and looked at his relative and superior officer. "Of, of course not," he stuttered, surprised at the assertion.

Commander Katagiri sighed. "It is, isn't it? You've always been like this, always getting yourself deeper in the military whenever you have woman trouble."

"That's not true!" exclaimed Billy.

His relative raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?" he opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a small booklet, well worn and aged. From inside it he brought out a list.

"High school. Broke up with girlfriend of four years after she decides that she wants to go to another university and doesn't want a long-distance relationship. Result: applying for engineering scholarship from the government in the field of robotic manipulators and development."

"I thought I would work in prosthetics," Billy defended himself. "Mobile suits only came after meeting and working with Professor Eifman."

"Ah, thank you for reminding me," said his commander, who jotted down something else. "I had forgotten about that part, which just-so happened to occur a week after your first university lady friend made it clear she wasn't looking for a steady relationship. Something about you being too soft?"

"Unrelated," said Billy through gritted teeth.

"Joining the military after college," the older Katagiri continued as if not hearing. "Reason: not wanting to break up with your flame at the time, who was set on becoming a Union strategic advisor. Requesting transfer to MSWAD, the premier mobile suit design branch. Reason: breakup with same flame after she left the Union after a certain incident."

"That wasn't her fault," Billy found himself defending Sumeragi even now, of all times and places.

"I never said it was," soothed the other Katagiri. "But it does bring us to our next point: designing the Union Flag, the most lethal advance in conventional military weaponry until the Gundams. Which just so happened after your girl friend of six months dumped you saying she wanted to settle down."

"I already had plans for the Flag before then. Coincidence," Billy said.

"Coincidence? I think not. Even on your development of the sole GN-Flag for your friend, that came after you reestablished contact with your old flame from college, correct?" He didn't wait to let Billy answer.

"My point, Billy, is that every time you have woman trouble, you go even more into the military and design a more lethal weapon. Time and history support me on this one. So please, for Heavens sake, don't get married and have a divorce while in the A-LAWS. One Aeolia Schenberg was enough; we don't need more superweapons of doom floating around in the next hundred years."

Billy's eyebrow ticked. "I'll be sure to remember that."

--

"I'm sorry, Feldt" Sumeragi had said back on the bridge of the Ptolemaios. "This uniform is a bit small," she said, covering as much modesty as she could with her arms over her chest. The shirt and jacket reached up to her abdomen.

Five minutes after that meeting, the bridge was empty except for the bridge crew. Feldt turned to Lasse, held out her hand, and said "pay up."

Lasse took out his wallet and began counting bills. "I never thought you'd get her to wear something that small," he admitted. "You got me, Feldt."

"What?!" exclaimed Millennia, the third and newest member of the bridge team. "What do you mean?"

Feldt looked at her. "Lasse said he would pay money to see Sumeragi put on a uniform of my size. I took him up on it. And now I am…" she counted the bills, "eighty dollars richer than I was before, and twenty less than I should be." She looked at Lasse meaningfully, who sighed and handed over another twenty.

"I don't believe it!" said Millennia, eyes wide. "I'd expect that out of my father, but never you two!"

Lasse raised an eyebrow. "Has my masculinity been insulted just now? I am a man, you know."

"But you're gay!"

Silence descended on the cockpit. Lasse looked at Millennia. Millennia looked at Lasse. Feldt looked at Lasse.

"Millennia…" began Lasse, softly but firmly, but he never got a chance to finish.

"Is that true, Lasse? Since when?" Feldt asked, eyes widening. "I… I never even noticed! And all those times and hints I should have noticed!" Lasse, who had been about to issue a vehement denial, had his composure leaked as surely as a flat tire.

"What hints?" he asked, not as intelligently as he should have.

"Like how you and Lichtendahl always hung out in private whenever Christina took me shopping. Or how you always work out your body, but never once glanced at Miss Sumeragi or Christina or even Wang Liu Mei or myself on Earth."

Millennia continued for her. "Or how you always insist on accompanying me when I bring food to Saji's cell! Or how you're always standing behind the other Meisters or my dad at the briefings, (which is pretty weird by the way)."

"That's right!" Feldt agreed. "How could I have not noticed?"

Lasse sighed. "Because I am not gay," he said strongly and firmly. "I just don't look at my crewmates for potential lays, nor do I look at minors, which Wang Liu Mei certainly was. And Feldt, just because Lichtendahl and I hung out together didn't mean we were gay. We normally went to the gym, and I know for a fact that he was very much interested in woman and only woman."

Millennia opened her mouth to say something, but Lasse beat her to the punch. "And I did not find out like that! And Millennia, I promise you from the bottom of my heart I am not gay for your Dad, of for anyone else on this ship. Even if I were gay, what makes you think I would be for him?"

"You don't have to put it like that," said Ian's voice from the doorway, and everyone looked at him with various degrees of embarrassment. "That was a very interesting and informative conversation, by the way. I heard the whole thing, and Feldt, I'll give you my share later as thanks for your service to male-kind." Feldt nearly meeped, and bowed her head, blushing.

Then he turned to his daughter. "Millennia," he chided, "even if one of your crewmates is gay, there is no reason to say so. Many of the best people I've worked with were gay, but that never mattered because we respected each other and were like family. Someone being gay is irrelevant, and especially shouldn't be asserted if you don't know it for a fact. What have I told you about making assumptions about others?"

Millennia sighed. "It only makes an ass out of me," she said, citing regular lessons of time past.

Ian nodded, eyes closed to appear wiser. "That's right, so don't do it. Even if it would make Lasse like you more."

He ducked the Lasse's projectile with prepared ease.

--

Post-review: Thoughts on the scenes that spawned each section.

1) See Allelujah flashback. See Soma. See Allelujah later appear at Sumeragi's door with wine. Throw in a good old "What Would Hallelujah Do," and serve.

2) Can you imagine her with CB for a long time? I can't.

3) Because when someone stalks your long-dead twin brother, the best way to drive them off is to kiss them.

4) Think of that scene from Sumeragi's perspective. Please.

5) The blond captain needs a diet, and silver-hair needs to stop being so visibly evil. It's embarrassing.

6) Why would Saji help Celestial Being? To stretch his legs and talk to someone who doesn't repeat everything they say. Will he admit that to Haro? Probably not.

7) Fess up. You thought Setsuna said "stay here," and were shocked when sea-water flooded that hallway.

8) Really. Poetry on the command bridge, before you've won? You knew he was going to lose.

9) Everyone can admit that the best part of the battle was that moment when Setsuna got blindsided. But every ten or so people impressed, you know somebody wasn't.

10) Yes. Turn over the princess to the all-male mob of armed rebels who likely haven't showered in weeks, and haven't had any in even longer. That's a great idea.

11) New theory: women Billy has relationship problems, he goes out and makes himself a better mobile suit. All in favor say aye?

12) Do you really think that Feldt 'accidentally' gave Sumeragi an outfit two sizes too small?


	5. Loyalty

A couple of things.

No, I don't hate Saji. Since Saji has never been a part of Celestial Being or Kataron, and has been open that he just wants to go back to his peaceful civilian life, it's kind of hard for me to see this episode as an example of naivety or as backstabbing, since neither of those are actually true. Can't backstab a side you aren't on, and the whole Saji-Sergei conversation was the only reason why Saji did admit. If that Blue Falcon of an officer hadn't been hanging at the door, then life would have been different.

Second, this actually is both drabble five and an update into Reformation. I didn't emphasize it, so this works as a stand-alone what-if, but Reformation will have another chapter that notes how, unlike the Series, Saji's tensions with Nena make him angrier at Celestial Being.

---

Loyalty

"To be a traitor, you must first be on the same side…"

---

"Setsuna!"

Setsuna turned around, and saw Saji walk towards him. Even in the poor lighting, he could see the look on the last Crossroad's face.

"Yes?" he acknowledged. "Is there a problem?"

"Why did you bring me here, to Kataron? You know I am not a member!" Saji, while upset, was not yelling, which Setsuna took as a good sign for the other's receptiveness to reason.

"You do not wish to remain associated to Celestial Being, correct? Placing you in Kataron's protection is the best choice for your safety apart from us," Setsuna said with cold logic. "Until the A-LAWS are defeated, you will be a wanted man wherever you go. The Federation can search even your biometrics."

"There are ways around that. Celestial Being was able to place you in the apartment next to mine, after all. I know that you could do the same with me, if you chose to," Saji pressed angrily. "Dropping me off here is not releasing me, just changing where you lock me away. I would still be working for a faction I don't agree with, I would still be a dead man should the Federation ever find this place, and I don't even know the language of the region. Nothing is changed by leaving me here." Saji's face loosened, and Setsuna recognized some of those emotions striving for release. Even if he would not admit it, the last Crossroad was pleading for Setsuna to return him to a civilian life.

And in truth, Setsuna could. The still-effective Intelligence arm of Celestial Being likely could find some quiet corner of the globe for Saji to reside peacefully in, and hide him from the Federation view for the duration of the war. Or Setsuna could have Saji accompany Marina to Azadistan: the First Princess would gladly shelter a fellow Federation fugitive to the extent of her ability, and the young engineer could put his abilities to constructive use in the ravaged country struggling to build.

"No," said Setsuna, who had already thought of those and decided. "You would be in too much danger."

And he would be in danger: Celestial Being had been compromised once before, and its Intelligence arm was headed by a mercenary young woman who would sell Saji Crossroads out the moment it might advance her own interests. And Marina was already in enough danger returning to Azadistan as it was: allowing Saji to accompany her would only place both of them in peril.

But Setsuna was not one to explain such.

"Why?" demanded Saji. Saji, like the rest of the world, would never be privy to Setsuna's inner thoughts. "Why do you care? You already brought this all about in the first place, Celestial Being already destroyed everything else I cared about. Why care now?"

Setsuna would not, could not, answer. Was it a sense of guilt? Responsibility? Had, in those short encounters over those months they had lived beside each other, had Setsuna come to value Saji as an open friend? Did he envy Saji's former lifestyle and innocence, the same selfish peacefulness and joy that Celestial Being had promised to bring to the world? Was it all of these? None of these?

And so instead he said "It is what is best for you. When the A-LAWS are defeated, I promise you that the world will be such that you can safely return and live your life." Setsuna made few promises in his life, a gesture of his sincerity.

But Saji glared, not knowing the meaning behind the invisible gesture.

"Don't you dare patronize me," he almost snarled. "My sister may have had that right, but not you. Not any of you. The world does not exist for you to change as you see fit. I am not a piece for you to place in the world as you see fit!"

"You have your own view of how the world should work," Setsuna pointed out, not in his own defense as much as to try and warn Saji of the perils of hypocrisy.

"The difference, Setsuna, is that I don't have the power to change the world as I want. I don't have a thirty-meter tall war machine made to murder armies. The difference, Setsuna, is that I don't want that power."

"Gundam is not a war machine made for murder," Setsuna said, and for once it was he with an edge in his tone. He might not care what Saji, or the world, thought of him, but the purpose of Celestial Being was vital to understand.

But Saji merely looked at him, and said nothing more. And Setsuna had no response.

---

Sergei watched the door to the cell close. Then, remembering his own time as a junior officer, he counted to ten and re-opened the door. The officer who had previously been interrogating the civilian male fell inside the room. After reprimanding the man and insuring that no one else would do so again, Sergei Smirnov turned his attention back to the young man in the room.

The bruise on his face was already beginning to swell, but he made no complaint, just as he had not said anything when the previous officer had attempted to 'correct' him upon hearing of the bio-matrix match as a Kataron member. A veteran of a thousand battles, Sergei knew the look of a soldier of any sort. This man, boy almost, had no such look. His hair was not regulation-style, nor was it unkempt as many irregulars were prone to do. Clean shaven, but lacking the tone or size of muscle that spoke of regular physical training. His hands lacked the calluses of a soldier or even mobile suit pilot.

But what was most telling was his eyes. They were eyes that spoke with a suppressed anger, a determination not to be a tool for anyone else. But they lacked the suspicion, the guarded view that soldiers learned. They spoke of an angry, but kind, idealist.

Sergei leaned forward.

"You aren't part of Kataron," he said. It wasn't a question, not even a confirmation of the young man's own denial a minute ago. It was a statement of fact, as sure as if Sergei had looked at the sky and said "there are no clouds."

The young man looked up, but Sergei continued before he could respond.

"You aren't Kataron, but something else. Something else that brought you out into the middle of the desert. You were at the Proud prison colony before it was attacked by Kataron, which is an issue, and now you are here, after the return of the Gundams. If not Kataron, perhaps you are a member of Celestial Being?"

"I am not a part of them," the man said with an emphasis on the last word, and Sergei also saw the flash of anger.

"Them?" he prompted, urging the other man to continue.

But he paused, in open conflict with himself. He clearly knew something, but at the same time was hesitant to admit. Sergei could guess as to what.

"Mr. Crossroads," he began, "I don't want you to be under any misconceptions. You are in a difficult spot here, and one that will only get worse with time. As an accused member of an anti-Federation insurgent group, the A-LAWS have every legal right to demand custody of you. I have no authority to deny them, regardless of my belief in your innocence. If you wish to return to a civilian as of now, you will be hard-pressed to convince anyone else."

Saji Crossroads lifted his head, but Sergei raised a hand. "But," he said meaningfully, "I do not intend to hand you over to their tender mercies if I have any choice. If nothing else, I promise to release you. But if you can give me any means to do so, I promise to do my best to protect you to the extent of my

ability. All I ask is that you decide what loyalties you have, if any, and then to make the choice you think is best. Regardless of what you choose, I will stand by my word."

Sergei stood. "I will give you time to consider on your own. Remember, though, time is not in your favor should you choose not to leave." And so he left the room.

Had there been any witnesses in the room, they would have testified that Saji Crossroads did not say a thing. The only sign of alertness was his twisting of a ring he had on a necklace, and of a continuous silent mouthing of words.

A short time later, Sergei returned, again checking the hall for any snooping young officers. As he entered, Saji's head turned to face him.

"I am sorry to press you, but I must cut into your time. The report of your arrival must be submitted in a matter of minutes, it will not matter what you choose." He placed two data pads on the table, text filling them. "I have two reports here. One says that you, Saji Crossroads, were taken into custody but were released before the A-LAWS could order me to transfer you into their authority. Officially, I have done so in hopes of tracking you to a regional rebel base."

He gestured to the other. "This report, on the other hand, says that an accident in the biometric scanning process has sent forth a flawed report. You are not Saji Crossroads, but instead an informant of mine who has been able to escape. I have the authority and connections to provide support for that, so it should last until someone scrutinizes it heavily. The exact details can be worked out later, but to choose this you must cooperate with me."

"So please," the Wild Bear of Russia finished, "having considered where your loyalties lie, what you owe or are owed, choose one, and quickly."

Saji Crossroads, for the first time offered a true choice over his destiny, chose the second report, and began to talk.

---

"So what will you do?" asked Kati after Sergei had shared his recent discoveries. The last Crossroads had been honest and free: having no loyalty and no reason to be loyal to either Kataron or Celestial Being, he had answered every question Sergei had asked of him, from the Gundam pilots to the local Kataron base. But more importantly to Sergei, he had detailed the A-LAWS own assault on Proud, of the deployment of the anti-personnel automatons, neither of which Sergei had heard of.

"Hm?" asked Sergei, who was still mulling over the implication of the night's discoveries.

"What will you do, both about the boy and the local rebels? If Celestial Being truly is allying themselves with the rebels, then the A-LAWS will surely take more power in the ensuing war. You won't be able to protect him should they learn of any of this."

"I will have to be careful," admitted Sergei. "But I will keep my vow. He has proven himself not a member of either Kataron or Celestial Being. I do not approve of vengeance-minded individuals, but he truly does have no reason to love Celestial Being, and he wishes to simply leave this conflict. For the time being, I will assign him to an engineer who has my trust. If he truly is a qualified engineer as he claims, he should be able to slide in with little notice."

"On a ship during the middle a patrol? Rumors will spread like wildfire. And you can't just drop him off in the civilian life again: if the A-LAWS didn't find him, Celestial Being would. Didn't he say they killed his sister merely for investigating into them?"

"True," Sergei acknowledged, "but at the moment this is the best I can do."

"I'll look into it from my end," Kati said. "If possible, he should be moved into a gray-zone outside of the usual chain of command, so as to avoid the red tape and digital foot print."

"I would thank you for it," Sergei said.

"A minor favor," Kati said, waving the fact that they were technically co-conspirators. "But what will you do about the Kataron base? When the A-LAWS learn about it, and they will, I will have no choice to attack, likely with the automatons." Her unease at the prospect was obvious.

Sergei grunted. "I will perform an armed reconnaissance at a suspected Kataron staging post," he said. "If the Gundams happen to still be there, I will be forced to withdraw to protect my ship. It may be dangerous, but it will not be a massacre."

Kati raised an eyebrow. "Intending to lose? That isn't like you."

"If we experience unexpected resistance on a small raid, no one will question me for calling in the A-LAWS."

Kati was quick on the implications. "By which point, they will have likely moved to another base, and we would assault an empty base." She paused. "You are too kind, Sergei."

"I must have grown soft in my old age," said one of the most fearsome commanders on the face of the planet.

Kati smiled. "I won't lie when I say I appreciate it." She paused, and then said "I'm sure Lieutenant Peries would appreciate it too, if she knew."

"If she knew," he agreed, not commenting on the recently signed adoption papers sitting on his desk.

---


	6. Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

Three short first impressions. I _could_ have done more… but it would have been a chore, not motivated writing. Too many funny scenes, no good way to capture them. The beat down everyone wishes on Lindt, the Sisterhood of Cool that Soma and Louise formed in that conversation, Andrei being struck speechless, Mr. Bushido being a one man army…

Too good. Too many takes. Shoulda, coulda, woulda written more if I had more time and motivation.

---

Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda

---

"_We all have our own ideas as to how that book or episode should have gone. That's why God invented fanfiction."_

---

The transport breached through the clouds, and suddenly there was fire and destruction as far as the eye could see. Azadistan, proud city of thousands of years, burned.

"Damage on this scale can't be achieved by mere terrorists…" Setsuna said, stunned by the aftereffects of the violence. His eyes noticed something standing out, and widened even further.

Above the capital hovered a mobile suit, dark GN particles spewing from it. It was red, blood red, and stood triumphant over the crushed city.

"That's a… Gundam. "

"And… that color…"

"Could it be?!"

The suit slowly turned towards him, displaying its profile.

"Yes, it is!" laughed Ali al Sarchez. "It's exactly what you're thinking!"

Suddenly, the television screen cracks, collapsing inwards on itself. You can feel the flames of the city beyond, hear the emergency wails and sirens.

"Damn it Ali!" curses Ribbons Almark from afar. "How many times do we have to tell you not to do that? The Fourth Wall is fragile!"

---

"Don't say it!" yelled Kati, one hand slamming on her desk even as another reached to grab Lindt by the collar.

"Are you going to raise your hand against an ally again?" the silver-haired officer asked, mouth in an unbearably smug smirk. "After something like that, it was within reason to never want to get involved with war again."

"Yes," said Kati, interrupting him even as her first fist pulled back. "I will.

---

"We're going back," Setsuna ordered from the bridge of the transport. It was time to return to the Ptolemy. Sumeragi's collapse only made further delays pointless.

Tieria turned, facing the silent Saji Crossroad. "You're coming with us," he informed Celestial Being's permanent detainee. "There's no telling what would happen to you if you stayed here."

Saji made no response, didn't even look up. If he heard, he made no sign of it.

"I don't pretend to know what's happened," began Allelujah after they had gone airborn. "But was there a reason in bringing him here, to Kataron?"

"He wasn't eager to stay with us," noted Tieria with a hint of condescension. "He could have stayed with them."

"But did he want to come here in the first place? When he's wanted by the A-LAWS for being a suspected Kataron member? Who decided to bring him here, anyway?"

Allelujah looked at Tieria. Tieria looked meaningfully at Setsuna. Setsuna merely said "It was for his own safety," he admitted. "We're fighting against the A-LAWS, after all."

"But so was Kataron. But at least we can defend ourselves from them, and we're constantly changing location. Once they finally found that base by old-fashioned patrolling, he'd be dead."

Setsuna said nothing. Tieria joined him in silence. Allelujah sighed, and looked back at the unresponsive young man in the back.

"So we brought this friend of yours, without his consent and likely against his will, to abandon him at an insurgent base that would be vulnerable the moment it was located? That sure worked out well, didn't it?"

"Just wait until it happens to you," snapped Setsuna.

'Yeah, like that will ever happen,' thought Allelujah.

'Ah, Marie…'

---


	7. Logic and Reason

Note: Barack Zinin is Louise's platoon commander in the A-LAWS. He's the military-man who flies the standard AHEAD.

---

Gundam 00 S2 Drabble 07

Logic and Reason

---

"Yes, but that would have been the smart thing to do. What have we told you about using logic and reason here?"

---

"He never fired, did he?" Lasse asked Ian afterwards, watching the young man across the cafeteria work to repair some machine or another.

"No," confirmed Celestial Being's head mechanic, "but maybe it's for the best. He's not a soldier by any means, just a civilian who got dragged into our fight."

Lasse raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very disappointed," he commented.

Ian chuckled, and took a sip from a drink he had been nursing. "I was surprised enough that he offered. Looking back, I don't think I really expected him to pull the trigger."

"Why didn't you take the shot for him?" asked Lasse, a question he had been pondering since the battle. "If you could have manned the turent yourself, before he offered, why didn't you take control when he froze and fire yourself?"

---

Andrei's suit flew backwards, guarding Flight Officer Halevy's retreat. His own small GN barrier blocked the shots that pursued them, the shots that couldn't be avoided. Not that it was needed; even Halevy's damaged suit easily skirted the fire from Celestial Being's mothership. Together they fled from the massive Gundam-carrier, unopposed by the Gundams and withdrawing with the fall-back flare.

When they returned, Andrei hurried through his landing process and carefully exited his cockpit. As he exited, Flight Officer Halevy stood waiting to greet him. She saluted him as he reached the ground.

"I am glad you are unharmed, Flight Officer," he said, returning the salute.

"Thank you for your assistance, sir," she replied. But then she asked him "Why did you fall back as well?"

Andrei blinked, not quite annoyed that she sounded entirely unappreciative for his timely rescue. "I was guarding your withdrawel, Flight Officer," he explained curtly.

"Yes sir," she acknowledged. "But my suit could maneuver fine, and there were no Gundams nearby. You could have done significant damage to them before the withdrawal."

"Pilots with experience against the Gundams are worth saving," Andrei reasoned. "You were still in danger from the ship."

"Not if you had destroyed it," pointed out Louise, before realizing her tone. "I apologize, sir," she said, shifting back into her military persona. "In the future, though, please place the mission first. Don't pass up such a chance for my sake."

---

"Captain Zinin," Kati interrupted, attempting to cut off her subordinate, "with the current situation, I have neither the time nor the patience to deal with this now."

Barack Zinin was a military man, a veteran off many engagements. He was efficient, skilled, and two steps away from heartless. But he was also a loyal man, both to his cause and his men. "I lost good men because of this man, Commander," he stressed, gesturing to the nonchalant Mister Bushido who stood at the rear of the room. "If he had just finished off the Gundam…"

"They wouldn't have died if they hadn't tried to engage the Gundam with two drives," said Mr. Bushido, either oblivious or unconcerned about the other A-LAW commander's temper. "Next time, perhaps their commander should listen when I claim sole engagement with a foe, and warn against any outside interference."

Zinin growled, fury clear. "You just fled like a coward!" the Captain snapped. "Worse than a coward, you snatched defeat from the jaws of victory!"

"Captain!" Kati barked, imposing every iota of authority into her voice before Mr. Bushido could respond. "Have you considered that Mr. Bushido took the correct course of action, and saved his life?"

Zinin looked at her with suspicion, Bushido looked at her with bemusement, and Kati knew she had a matter of seconds to defuse the situation.

"Use logic and reason," she said. "He only had a single arm left. He was hovering atop a stationary target. You should recognize just how vulnerable he was. You and yours were damaged by the marksman Gundam just from approaching the crippled Gundam: how difficult a shot do you think it would have been to shoot just above the stationary Gundam?"

Zinin was still upset, but was now manageable. "Captain," she said, no less authoritative but marginally more understanding. "I understand your anger at losing your subordinates, but control yourself. With Lieutenant Peries missing, I need every pilot at my disposal. If I find Mr. Bushido negligent, rest assured I will take care of the matter."

Zinin said nothing, but smartly saluted and was dismissed, not even glancing at Mr. Bushido who was still leaning against the back wall. After the door had shut, Mr. Bushido opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Kati.

"I don't care if that was or was not your reason for your actions, Mr. Bushido," Kati began. "But I will not see misconduct among my men. I meant what I told the Captain: if I find you negligent, I will hold you accountable.

Mr. Bushido, damn his mask, chuckled at the threat.

---

We sit in a tent, Marie and myself.

I killed dozens, massacred hundreds of innocents. I slaughtered our sisters and brothers from the institute. I sadistically murdered weaker enemies along with Hallelujah. I fought to break and remake the world, all for my own desires. I confess my sins to her, to Marie.

But no, she denies. She forgives me, for in the heat of battle she slew Hallelujah, slew my stronger self that I had made in my own weakness. For that one kill, she sees us as equals.

I can not, do not want to, convince her of the magnitude of difference between her act of war and my own premeditated acts of carnage. Of the difference between the act of a soldier and the act of a psychopath.

---

"Haro!" calls out Lockon Stratos, and he is Lockon Stratos regardless of what some might whisper. Far ahead of him flies a Federation mobile suit, one of the dangerous GN-XIII suits.

The Gundam readies the rifle even as Lockon beings to circle around the approaching suit. Another Federation suit, another dog of the military, another pilot co-complicit in the massacre of his Kataron comrades.

But the Federation pilot, either brave or suicidal, continues straight on. From his scope, he can see that its arms are held wide apart, no hostile intent. Even as he looks down the sight of the rifle mount, Lockon can see the flashing lights.

"Location received! Arios located! Friend found!" alerts Haro, ears opening comically. Lockon breathes easier in his aiming position, now that he knows Allelujah is safe and nearby. But he must still deal with this suit.

The pilot continues forward, fearless, even as Lockon and Cherudim circle around him. The GN-XIII, the same model that released the automatons that murdered his friends, remains peaceful, non-aggressive. The pilot does not want to fight today.

"But what about tomorrow?" muses Lockon, aim never wavering from the enemy. Will this pilot be peaceful next time? Will this suit never harm anyone else?

That, in the end, is what convinces Lockon to act. This Federation suit will remain a threat to both Celestial Being and Kataron. Even if not under this pilot, then under another, motivated one. The logic is cold, the reasoning remorseless. Lockon understands how Celestial Being worked, all those years ago.

"One less enemy now is one less cause of concern later," whispers Lockon Stratos as he pulls the trigger, mercifully killing the other pilot in a single shot as two young lovers watch in horror from below.


	8. Friends and Fate

Why is this two weeks late? Thanksgiving and school. Had no internet for online during the week of Thanksgiving, and school has kept me busy during the mean time. I have a short break before exams, so I'm catching up now.

As for the fic, a variety of unrelated shorts with a theme around friends and twists of fate.

These are AU drabbles. If you think there's a canonical problem, tell me, but don't be surprised if I laugh in your face. They aren't meant to be anything more than loosely connected with cannon. If it's just a spelling difference, especially from a name that hasn't been seen on English air yet, that isn't a mistake with cannon. At worst it's a consistent typo.

---

00 S2 Drabble 08

Friends and Fate

---

"_We are friends and I do like to pass the day with you in serious and inconsequential chatter. I wouldn't mind washing up beside you, dusting beside you, reading the back half of the paper while you read the front. We are friends and I would miss you, do miss you, and think of you very often."_

_-Jeanette Winterson_

---

"He didn't fire?" asked Joyce Moreno as Ian Vashti slumped into the chair across the table. Already there were drinks, two small cups of beer, and for a moment there was companionable silence as Ian took his first drink of the night.

"No," eventually said Ian. "You were right, I admit it."

"I usually am," said Celestial Being's doctor, "but there's no need to sound so grudging. Did you think he would?"

Ian took another sip. "I suppose not," he admitted, "but I would have been pleasantly surprised." Ian stared up at the ceiling, pondering Celestial Being's inadvertent addition.

"You sound disappointed," said Moreno, looking at his friend. "More than just that he didn't fire."

"Not disappointed, just… I just wanted someone to understand what we were trying to do, to agree that what we were doing is the right thing," Ian confessed. "I understand about four years ago, when the entire world hated us with reason, but…" he trailed off. "We're the ones fighting against unilateral violence here. The A-LAWS are far worse than we ever were. I guess I hoped that he would see that."

"Don't," said Moreno. "Don't think like that" he said, as Ian looked at him. "The fact that he tried means that he knows what we're trying to do. But some people aren't fit for combat, regardless." He laughed, but not cheerfully. "Look at me. I've been with Celestial Being from the start, and how much have I helped in the fight? Give him time, and don't expect more than he has to offer."

"I suppose," Ian said, and then chuckled. "Almost had myself in a mood there, didn't I? What would I do without you?"

"You're a smarter man than you give yourself credit for," Moreno said. "You'd figure it out yourself."

Ian laughed at the suggestion.

---

"Wow. Just wow."

"That's enough, Lockon Stratos."

"It's Neil Dylandy, Tieria," said the man with an insufferable grin at Tieria's embarrassment. "My brother is Lockon Stratos."

"He is not you," Tieria said, face filled with disdain at the other Stratos. "He's crude, his manners are rude, and he can't even match your simulator scores. He also smokes," Tieria added, nose wrinkling in distaste.

"Details details," waved Neil. "My brother is a perfectly suitable replacement, as even Setsuna agrees. He may not have my marksmanship skills," Neil said, sniffing at the thought of anyone matching his impeccable skills, "but he's an even better at the pistols and close range than I am."

Tieria was not convinced. "I would be more comfortable if you were the pilot," he said.

"Don't be like that," Lockon said. "You know I can't pilot with these," he said, indicating his prosthetic arm and leg. "Besides, my brother is a very insightful man," he said, grinning again.

Tieria raised an eyebrow. "How so?" he asked, taking the bait.

Neil _leered_. "One of the first things he told me upon joining Celestial Being was about how cute his instructor was, though I don't think this was what he meant."

Tieria gripped his dress tighter, striving for every ounce of modesty he could get.

---

"I heard you had a close call, Lieutenant." Though Sergei's voice was calm and commanding, as it always was, Soma heard the concern in his tone.

"I am fine, thanks to Flight Officer Halevy," Soma said.

It was an understatement, and he knew she knew that he knew it. The orange gundam grappling with Soma's own suit, had nearly overloaded the systems of both. Even if they hadn't crashed into the sea, the implications of a crash landing on land were no more reassuring. That had been the pilot who had killed all the other children from the super soldier institute, after all.

"I intend to thank her myself," said Sergei, "once she has recovered. How is her condition?"

Soma looked at the emergency operating room doors beside her, remembering what the doctors had told her after she had rushed the convulsing woman into the infirmary. The blond, after pulling Soma back towards the ship as the Orange gundam crashed into the waves below, had suffered some sort of shock, unable to pilot her own mobile suit. Soma's own quantum brain waves had picked up the chaotic distress in the other girl's mind, waking Soma up, but by then it had been Soma who was returning Halevy to the safety of the ship. The young girl had been consuming her pills when Soma had jumped to the cockpit, but had otherwise been unresponsive.

"They said she will recover," Soma said. "They suspect she suffered some sort of severe mental shock." She paused, and then gave her own evaluation. "She pushes herself to hard. I believe she panicked when my suit's communications were unresponsive to her hails."

Sergei's eyes narrowed, making his own suspicions and conclusions from Soma's manner. "She is young?" he asked.

Soma nodded. "My age," she said, and for the first time had an insight as to why the Colonel had been so hesitant about using her in battle.

The Colonel opened his mouth to speak, but the doors to the infirmary opened. Out, slowly and carefully and assisted by a young doctor, walked Flight Officer Halevy. Soma looked at the Colonel apologetically. "Go and take care of your friend," he said, giving her a nod.

The doctor gave Halevy a bottle of pills and instructions, but Soma insisted on seeing her to her room to rest. "Thank you, Lieutenant," Louise said once they arrived.

"You saved me today," replied Soma. "I'm only returning the favor."

"I didn't want the Gundams to kill anyone else," admitted Louise. "When you didn't respond after I separated you from the orange one, I…"

"I am alive today because of you," said Soma Pieres. She paused, and then continued. "I think you can expect a call from my father saying so as well."

---

"Go home, Billy."

Billy Katagiri, assistant head director of A-LAWS mobile suit development, looked at his mentor in surprise. "It isn't even eleven, Professor."

Professor Eifman snorted. "This isn't college, my student. Your body needs its rest. Lord knows mine does," he said, rotating his shoulders.

"I'm still behind on this design," Billy said, trying to hide behind a deadline. "More work needs to be done…"

Professor Eifman did not live to a ripe age by letting others deter him. "Nonsense," he said. "Let the technicians do that work: that's what they're paid to do. You, sir," he said, pointing at Billy, "need to take care of yourself. Go home, Billy."

Billy pursed his lips and did not move. "I don't have a home at the moment," he said. "I can't stand the sight of my old apartment anymore," he explained, and turned away meaningfully.

"I heard about Kujo," said Eifman. If it was a stab in the dark, it was a well aimed one by the way Billy suddenly froze.

"I know how you felt about her," the older man continued. "Believe me, I was as shocked as anyone. To think a student of mine would have been behind Celestial Being…"

"She always danced around it," Billy nearly snarled. "I didn't ask because I respected her privacy, and all that time I was hiding the one who was behind their deaths. I should have suspected it the moment I heard the Overflags had been routed, but I was so happy to see her. But she never told me, never was going to tell me! She came to my house, asking for a place to stay. To think I was hosting the one who helped kill MSWAD!"

"Peace, Billy," Eifman said. "Your anger won't bring them back to life."

"You would have died to, if you had been there!" snapped Billy, whirling to face his teacher. "They destroyed the entire base! I was in a coma for a month, half of the Overflags were killed, and Graham…" he choked off. "Sometimes I wish he had died too. Anything would have been better than being consumed like he did."

Eifman put a strong but gentle hand on Billy's shoulder. "That is why you should rest, Billy. If you become consumed by your hatred, by your anger at Kujo, you could become like him. And unlike him, you won't even have a decisive revenge to aim for. Then I would have lost two students to their personal weaknesses in my old age, and I have no desire to see all my students pass away before I do."

Billy was silent, but did not resist as Eifman guided him into the break room. "If you don't have a home to return to, at least sleep here," the white haired man said. "Mr. Bushido's machine will still be here in the morning when you wake up."

Billy sat down on the plain cot, and Eifman handed him a simple blanket. "No matter what you say, I'm not going to show mercy to Kujo," he warned the Professor.

"I don't expect you to," said Eifman with little joy. "Believe me, I intend to fight the consequences of Schenberg's legacy as sincerely as you do, but the first steps are always the smallest. At the moment, I'll just be content if you get some rest."

Billy did go to sleep, though not without thinking of what would need to be done the next day. When he awoke, Professor Eifman was deep asleep on the next cot over, and all the work Billy had planned for had already been done.

---

They were too professional to argue in public, especially after a mission. Instead they stood there, not exactly smiling but accepting the praise given to them for their accomplishment. Two gundams, if not destroyed and their pilots killed, were at least put out of commission for the time being. Two aces, renowned for their distinctive quirks, were quickly becoming A-LAW legends.

Afterwards, in private, there had been words.

"Are you happy?" snapped the scarred one. "We struck down a defenseless enemy, and then you rescued the girl. Is Howard proud yet?"

The other, the only pilot the scarred one consented to fly with, reached forward and grabbed the other by the collar. "Don't take that tone with me, _Commander_," the black man snarled. "We've covered this already. You vowed to defeat a Gundam in a Flag, and you did. But we both vowed to avenge Howard, and the people behind Celestial Being are still out there. You and I both know that, and I am not going to let your pride get in the way of Howard's memory."

The scarred one pulled the hand off with no gentleness. "Don't you dare try and use Howard's memory against me," he warned in a voice fitting for the grave. "You ran off without a word, ran from Howard's own pride of life. How can you call forth Howard's memory when he would be ashamed of what you did?"

"I admit I shamed Howard by leaving the squadron without your permission, sir," the other said with mocking for the rank, "but I was not going to let an over-abundance of pride keep me from our goal of avenging him. Are you going to do the same, Commander?"

The scarred one glared at the one who fought without pride. The black man glared at the one who put pride before the goal.

The tension broke as the scarred one chuckled. "I do sometimes get caught up in my obsession," the scarred one admitted. "Going beyond love does that to a man, makes him lose sight of his goal."

"I suppose it does," his friend admitted. "But on the other hand, if you lose your pride than the victory is meaningless, right?" he also conceded.

As if on signal, they stuck out their hands, reaffirming the pact they had made after the first Celestial War. "In the memory of Howard Mason and all Flag Fighters," they had said, "we swear to never relent, to show no mercy until the last face of Celestial Being is unmasked and held accountable."

That confrontation had been a week ago, almost. Tieria, only interested in the one controlling the strings of the A-LAWS, paid no attention to the increasingly famous Mr. Bushido or his regular companion and wingman, the mysterious Flag Fighter.

---

She shot the body first, and then moved her aim towards the arm that threatened the other GN-X. But that was the difference. The screen still exploded from the GN-X's point-blank shot, but glass blew out right, not left, and pierced the Meisters silver eye. He, it, _they_ screamed in agony as they drifted away from the two wounded GN-X's.

They screamed for minutes in perfect agony, perfect distress. Not even the beast of the two could refrain from crying out. But slowly the good golden eye opened. Smoke, both external and inside the cockpit, blurred the two enemy suits from sight. But inside the cockpit, their own reflection was clear. Too clear.

"Wake up," Hallelujah said, more grunt than bark. "Don't go to sleep on me yet."

"Hallelujah…" they breathed together, "did we…?"

"We're alive," he said, still gripping their head. "You can be thankful for that."

"Allelujah…" his other half whispered, a fond memory returning.

"Don't get sappy on me," Hallelujah commands. But his other half no longer listens to his commands, if he ever did.

"Did we do the right thing, Hallelujah?" It sounds tired but earnest.

"What are you talking about?" he answers, refusing to worry about the past. "We survived, that's all."

"These hands have taken so many lives," his other says, reaching their right hand forward and towards their reflection. "Perhaps… this was the world's way of judging us."

"What?" he asks, and his tone is no longer the fearless hate of old. "What are you saying? There's nothing wrong with wanting to survive. It's only natural!"

"For you, Hallelujah. For you. Maybe this is the punishment for my deeds. I'm so tired of seeing the blood on my hands…"

"Are you giving up on your life? If you surrender now, we'll both die!" Hallelujah yells, reaching closer to their reflection where he realizes that Allelujah _is_ the reflection now, and the survivalist panic that spawned him cries in terror.

"No, you'll survive," comforts Allelujah. "You will fight to survive. But I am tired of fighting. I just want to rest…"

"Fool!" Hallelujah cries, not in terror for his own survival, "if you go away now…!"

"I'm not going anywhere," his other reassures. "I'm just going to sleep for a little while." His words are slower, ever more dreary, and he has stopped caring for fighting, for surviving, even for existing.

"Don't go! If you go, who will rescue Marie? She's alive, you idiot!"

But Allelujah is past explanations, or even hearing Hallelujah's voice. The admission that could have shaped fate has no effect.

"Hallelujah," Allelujah whispers, "you have control."

"Allelujah!" Hallelujah screams once in panic, struggling to wake his other self from his ever deepening slumber.

Hallelujah would inherit all of Allelujah's memories and abilities, but not of his character. Four years later, when Setsuna would launch the jailbreak that freed him, Hallelujah would immediately leap into his new Gundam without hesitation, tearing his way through the first of many A-LAW mobile suits.

"Allelujah!" Hallelujah screams a second time in rage, furious at the hibernation of half himself.

Still in possession of their quantum brainwaves, Hallelujah would never have a proper conversation with Soma Peries. In the one instance she entered his cell while he was asleep, Soma, unconsciously through Marie's own sleeping presence, would feel the presence of the hibernating Allelujah. But Hallelujah would wake up, mocking Marie for both killing Allelujah and not motivating him to stay alive, and A-LAW officers would drag the screaming Soma Peries away from Hallelujah's cruel quantum brain waves. Many times the two would clash in battle, and no matter the setting Hallelujah would viciously fight Soma with killer intent.

"_Allelujah_!" Hallelujah screams a third time in sorrow, feeling the anguish of the perpetual lack of half of himself.

Hallelujah no longer fights merely for survival. In his own way, he fights for the ideals of Celestial Being, against a world that would make any more like himself. He fights out of a twisted camaraderie with his allies in Celestial Being, some of whom are more like him they care to admit. He fights out of hatred towards those who made him this way, and with a special passion against Soma Peries.

Hallelujah no longer fights merely for his own survival. No, he fights to revive Allelujah from his deep slumber. And if it takes Marie's dying screams to awaken him, then Allelujah's hatred will just have to be the price.


	9. Most Useless Plot TwistsHoles of 00

Some people didn't quite get the hint last umpteen chapters. I write _AU_, as in alternate universe, as in what ifs, counterfactuals, etc. The entire theme of the last drabble was of friends where one or the other had died in season one.

That said, this one was inspired by and in the mold of 's famous lists. If you don't know about them, go there. They are a wonderful mix of insight, comedy, hyperbole, and fact. That's also why we are now talking in the plural.

No quote for this chapter, though I strongly suggest you go to their website.

---

Most Useless Plot Threads/Twists/Holes of 00

(And How They Could Have Been Fixed)

---

Now, we all love Gundam 00. That's why we continue watching it, write about it, and take time from possibly being productive in life to reading and writing bad fanfiction on it. But loving something doesn't mean we can't lovingly point out its flaws and laugh at the absurdity of Japanese sci-fi, secure in the knowledge that Western sci-fi is immune to bad writing.

(Not pictured: Star Trek: Voyager)

Gundam 00, like many works, suffers from those embarrassing blemishes on its presentation. Like an unsightly zit begging to be popped by your locker room friend, these are the kind of plot tricks that keep you watching in suspense and then, after the run has concluded, leaves you asking yourself "WTF?"

Fortunately, we did not come here just to complain. We, the staff of writer chimps that work part time for the author, sat down to create both a detailed list and have come up with solutions to those mysteriously dangling and otherwise useless plot threads, twists, and holes of 00 that were left to wander in the back of our minds.

Actually, that was a lot of work, so we just took the series character list and thought up a bad or dropped plot twist/thread for each character, and how they could have been fixed. It was disturbingly easy.

---

Schenberg: Still alive (in a world that hates you)

The Point: He's still alive in season one, ready to be revived after Celestial Being makes the world hate their guts.

Problem: He's the public face of Celestial Being, the man who first said "screw your international norms, peace keeping institutions, and peace treaties: we're attacking." He fate is to immediately be killed off without being revived (which, in the vacuum on the Moon's surface, would have killed him anyway), just to prove how evil Alejandro is and give an excuse for the late-season trans-am upgrade.

The fix: Why bring him back in the first place? Veda could still have a tripwire to send out Aeolia's message, and he would have died as a renowned hermit in a world that wouldn't hate him for another two hundred ears.

---

Setsuna: Remember the doll

The Point: You probably don't, but remember back in the first episode, even before the credits, Setsuna sees a broken doll in the ruins of Kurdistan? Remember how that same doll showed up not once but twice in the opening each episode, first as a black and white image and then as a elusive image that Setsuna can't grab, both symbolizing his connection to his past memories?

Problem: No? Well, neither did the writers. Since two of the three were in the opening, it really isn't that big a gap in the series, but it does make you wonder why they spent the time to put it in the show's opening credits if it was never going to show up or be mentioned again. Perhaps Patrick and the AEU would have liked a three-second spot in the opening?

The fix: Make it so. Why not put the doll in the series? It could have been one of Setsuna's only keepsakes from Kurdistan, or another doll just like it could have shown up during the Azadistan intervention, such as after Setsuna's failed attempt to be gundam. That would have been a nice link between the start of the series and Setsuna's return to Kurdistan. It would have been fairly quick and easy, even if it were only a shocking image from ruins that sticks in Setsuna's memory.

---

Setsuna: I am a Meister

The Point: Setsuna meets a woman who gets him out of a speeding ticket. In exchange, he tells her that he is a world-wanted terrorist, gives her his code name, and might have given her his number and told her to call him if he had read that chapter of how to be James Bond.

The Problem: Was there anyone who didn't cringe at the ham-fisted delivery? Did anyone else besides Marina not believe their ears? Was there any credible reason for the future equivalent of Osama bin Laden to go up to a woman and try and use his identity as a conversation starter?

The fix: Don't do it, Duh. That's a duh with a capital 'd'. Marina was already likely to remember Setsuna because she said she didn't see many Kurds outside of Kurdistan. If she really must find out his identity on their first meeting, why not find out by twist of fate, not open admission? If Setsuna got his motorcycle into a crash and Marina was to find (and hide from police) his nifty Celestial Being card, or perhaps see the Exia while taking a walk outside of the city, it would have been much less grating on our ears to hear Setsuna's entire name for the 73'rd time in the series.

---

Lockon: OMG, Twin Brother!

The Point: Lockon has a identical sibling, one who knows how smoking gives a -5 on all modern coolness roles.

The Problem: The delivery was flat, and they waited an entire season before going on it. We see the brothers at the same grave yard within the first ten episodes, but then the twin is never mentioned again until it's time for season two, a gap of around fifteen episodes. When 'Lockon' returns, he gets about two episodes of doubts and mistrust from Celestial Being before everyone accepts him, even though they know he's a spy.

The Solution: In the first season, this could have been addressed by giving the brother a few more appearances. Like if instead of spying on little children from his car, Lockon was seen as watching his own brother from afar, giving an entirely different creepy sexual deviant vibe from Lockon (and pushing back accusations of pedophilia to episode nine).

For second season, the situation is still salvageable. Though the he's-not-the-Lockon-I-remember subplot was dropped, it could be re-raised along with suspicions about his true loyalties. But really, bring us back to the differences between the two, please.

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Allelujah: Highly Political and Nowhere to Go

The Point: Allelujah and some friends escape from the HRL Super Soldier Institute, where they got some of the best medical treatment in the world for free. Deciding that free government health care is government oppression, the kids steal some weapons, commandeer a ship at gunpoint, and then go meandering around space, eating all their bags of chips and running out of air.

The Problem: Allelujah says they had nowhere to go, but that isn't really true: given how unpopular and controversial the super soldier institute was portrayed to have been, having to remain top secret even within the military and all, just publicly turning themselves to the League infront of live international cameras likely could have embarrassed the League into shutting down the program. Even better they could have gone to the Union or Europeans, who would have touted the tykes as proof of the evils of Asia and what not. But rather than bring the truth of the institute to light, the kids simply wander around and die and Allelujah doesn't tell the world about the allegedly horrific experiments until years later, after the Institute has had another decade or so to pump children full of chemicals.

The Fix: Another two sentences. "We didn't have enough fuel to reach Union or European space" would be one, and "Celestial Being told me not to tell the public until more evidence could be gathered" would be another.

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Tieria: Trial of the System

The Point: Tieria is special in that he pilots two Gundams. One is the Virtue, tactfully described as "big boned," and inside it is the Seravee, the Hermaphrodite Gundam with the Trial System which can shut down any Gundam linked to Veda as a sort of trump-card against any stolen Gundams. Which is what the Exia was in terms of GN-Fields.

The Problem: The Trial System, used only once to no effect, requires the Virtue to shed all its armor and to lose most of the firepower that made it dangerous in the first place. Which begs the question of why it needs to shed the armor in the first place, as well as why you'd make it so the Gundam inside wouldn't have any long-range weapons in case it cast off its armor in gravity. Surely if it were to be fighting a captured Gundam, it might also be fighting some non-Gundam that could shoot?

The Fix: Make the Trial System usable with the Virtue. Then you have the ultimate anti-Gundam countermeasure (unless someone is hacking your super computer), and you don't have to trade away the beam spam.

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Trinities: Hi, space ship! Bye, space ship!

The Point: The Trinities are pretty cool, for a bunch of cold-blooded murderous revolutionaries. They have Gundams, get rock music playing in the back ground, and have their own space ship.

The Problem: Huh? They have a space ship? Indeed they do, and it only shows up for one episode, never to be seen again when, say, the massive distraction of a Gundam carrier might have put terror in the hearts of the Earth, or at least played giant target for the UN forces to shoot at.

The Fix: Why not involve the ship in a desperate ploy for the Thrones to survive? "Oh, we'll send our mother ship to racing towards an orbital elevator, forcing the people hunting us to divert forces from our sorry asses to save the global economy, allowing us to get away." Or maybe it could have had some role in the final battle. Or just show Nena on it in the epilogue, proving that at least it got put to some use.

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Nena: Run away meat shield

The Point: Setsuna goes down to Earth, to confront and talk to the Thrones. Presumably, because at least Sumeragi and Johan had some common sense, an alliance between the Meisters and Thrones could have been made in the name of, say mutual survival against the UN forces that are tearing into them. Too bad Ali continues on his kill stread with two of the three Trinities.

The Problem: After the battle in which past-flame Setsuna saves Nena from certain death, the young maiden proceeds to reward her rescuer and enemy of her brother's killers by immediately fleeing without a word, even though said killer is in the immediate area as well.

(Not seen: Setsuna getting a hero's reward.)

The Fix: Why not take Nena to space, to help in the fight against the UN Forces that want to wipe them all out? Then she could be confronted and made to answer for her past actions, could earn some redemption by defending the crew of the Ptolemy, and who knows? Maybe there could be some soft semi-romantic subtext between her and Setsuna if she, pardon us, reforms.

You know what? That would make an awesome fanfic. Someone should write that up, and not quit like wimp after only a few updates under such excuses as 'school' or 'too little time.'

---

Johan: One for All

The Point: Look how evil the Thrones are, attacking the military-industrial complex like that! Go Flag Fighter Graham, drive them away from Iris Corp, which makes tons of money in making explosives to kill people with!

The Problem: It's just Johan. Who, immediately after retreating, hooks up with his siblings just in time to be confronted by the Exia in a one vs. three match. Where were Michael and Nena while Johan was fighting alone, huh? Come to that, why couldn't Setsuna and Celestial Being have intervened against the Thrones over the skies of the US, demonstrating the difference between the mass-killing Thrones and the relatively benign Meisters?

The Fix: An even more awesome battle in which Graham charges all three Thrones as they attack the factory. Dodging attacks left and right, Graham still manages his coup against Johan, but as he coughs up blood Nena and Michael prepare to finish him. At which point Daryl, leading the Union Flag Fighters, arrive and attack the Gundams, giving Graham time to recover. Soon the Exia shows up saving Graham, and soon the Virtue and Dynames and other Union reinforcements as the biggest three-way mobile suit battle in history goes down over North America. We'd have tons of cool moves and a kick ass fight, massive casualities of the Union (which got off light in the show), the Meisters get good press compared to the Thrones, and we have the best brawl of the series .

And if a certain Howard Mason and Louise Halevy gets avenged during this fight, so much the better, right?

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Michael: Killed out of combat

The Point: Ah, Michael Trinity. Hyper-aggressive, blood-thirsty even, and pulled a knife on Setsuna. He's sure to go out fighting, right?

The Problem: Ali pretty much kills him on sight and pulls of the series first and only Gundam-jack, proceeding to kick more ass in the Zwei than Michael ever did. Which isn't bad, per say, but there was a line of people who wanted to shoot down Michael and Ali effectively cut ahead by walking in the back door. It completely ruined the buildup that Michael was such a battle-hungry bugger, and while there is some poetic justice in how he was killed by an even bigger battle-hungry bastard, it left most of us scratching our heads wondering why.

Fix: Even if Ali can't simple wrestle the Zwei to ground, rip open its cockpit, and kill Michael with his bare hands (the rest of us weaklings would probably want to do all that with a mobile suit or something), would it have been that much to ask that Michael get a chance to futilely fight to the death, even if hand to hand?

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Sumeragi: The AEU spy who wouldn't shag Billy

The Point: Season Two spoiler: Sumeragi is actually from the AEU!

The Problem: Though never stated explicitly, all the implications pointed towards the Union. We knew Sumeragi went to college with Billy (a Canadian weapons designer) and personally knew Professor Eifman (world renowned American scientist), both of whom were people for whom security clearance level is somewhere around "Has you dog ever met a Chinese cat?" Just being in the same room with them both at the same time would have gotten Sumeragi a file with Union Intelligence. The heavy implication that Sumeragi went to a Union university (where else would Eifman teach?) and the fact that Union personnel like Graham had heard of 'that incident' had led most people to reasonably assume that Sumeragi had been in the Union military, not the AEU. Hearing otherwise was a plot twist that came out of nowhere, and seemed to serve no real purpose.

Well, it might have served one purpose. Ever notice the lack of characters from Europe, compared to the Union or League? Some have speculated that the writers, realizing this omission, changed Sumeragi's back-story during the break between seasons in order to give more balance across the globe, taking advantage of the fact that the exact nature of the incident had yet to be revealed (and thus no contradiction).

But still, why bother against your own build up and implications?

The Fix: Either make it clear that Sumeragi was a transfer student, or have changed it to her being in the Union. While the Sumeragi-Kati friendship/rivalry was clearly planned to be built on, they don't both have to be European tactical advisors. Kati could have been the only exchange student, and Sumeragi the native Union girl. It could have been a friendly-fire incident in a war game exercise between the two powers, one that Sumeragi felt incredibly guilty for starting an international incident/minor conflict over. Whatever it is, just be clear.

---

Lichtendahl: Tragic robot past

The Point: It's the countdown before the final battle. Wills are written. Prayers are said. Illicit, desperate affairs are slept before the battle is fought and people die. Personal secrets are told, tragic pasts of suffering in past wars are revealed. That guy you wanted to sue for sexual harassment is a robot.

Wait, what?

The Problem: Not only did we have no idea that cybernetic prosthetics existed in the modern world of 00, since we were told during Louise's tragedy that limb regeneration is the state of the art medicine, but it hasn't mattered or come up sense. It didn't matter then, either, since we first saw Licht's parts when he died failing to save Christina from death. Sort of like if the Terminator sacrificed himself to save a child, but the child was promptly run over by a car and no one ever mentioned the robot corpse ever again.

The Fix: As much fun as some people might get out of wondering whether Lichtendahl's love gun was still all natural or mechanically improved, did it really matter? The failed meat-shield scene would have been just as (not) effective had it been actual meat and not metal shredded by the explosion, and the messy effects of a compromised space suit would be a nice change from all the other pilots who can survive explosions and the shrapnel damage to their space suits in the vacuum of space. As it was, it came out of nowhere, never showed up again, and now we have to wonder why everyone isn't trying to re-enact Ghost in the Shell with those primitive AI's that were referenced in episode nine by the HRL.

What, you don't remember that either?

---

Christina: Bad taste

The Point: Christina is your average self-insert Mary Sue in a Gundam series. Brilliant, cheerful, and amazingly well-endowed for her (or anyone's) age, Christina goes off with lusting eyes for every single halfway hot guy in Celestial Being except the married head mechanic, his possibly gay Doctor friend, and that dweeb who has the audacity to talk to her.

Problem: Did we mention that the dweeb is the only one who cares about her, does nice things when she has a long day, and actually tries to sacrifice his life for her? Compare him to the possibly female effeminate male, the stoic child soldier, the older man who your younger (minor) friend has a crush on, the double-personality pilot who may or may not be flirting with your strategic coordinator, and the mysterious new comer pilot who turns out to be capable of cold-blooded mass murderer, and while technically bad taste isn't a plot hole or dropped plot thread it is a major logical gap worthy of derision.

Plus, if a guy has to get himself killed to get a kind word from you, we have to wonder (a) if you're worth it and (b) just how smart you actually are if you really didn't see it beforehand.

The Fix: Make it a comedy in the back ground. Maybe have all the other crew members try and hook Christina up with Lichty, if only so she stops hitting on everyone with two legs and without a uterus. Or if you're willing to not kill them off, keep them alive as is and watch them enjoy as perfectly happy and normal a relationship as a cyborg geek and a teenage female fantasy can have. Or did we already say make it a comedy?

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Feldt: Parents were in Gundam ( Manual)

The Point: Episode 9. Feldt cries cute jailbait tears on the anniversary of her parents death, and confides to Lockon that her parents were second generation Gundam Meisters. This scene inspires an entire pairing shipping, starts an unrequited one-sided crushing session, and later with the revealing of Trans-Am and its red hue reignites the debate as to who the real Ped Comet of 00 is.

The Problem: There were second generation Gundams?

This is a case of the anime trope known as "All in the manual," in which relevant and sometimes critical information is in the extra material, action figures, or audio works. Of course, most in America never get access to these often Japanese-exclusive releases, and those who are stuck with only the anime itself for all their information…

The Fix: It's not really important, since the point is that her parents died, not that they were Meisters, and the tragic part is that their child doesn't even know how they died. We didn't get the history of regular mobile suit development either, so the lack of dumbed-down suits is a minor hit. Just not mentioning that they were Gundam Meisters would solve this loose thread. But still, some subtle hint would have been nice. Perhaps if the stars outside the window had rearranged themselves to spell "Go Buy Gundam 00P"?

(Not pictured: The cosmos shifting to tell you to go buy more Japanese books and media.)

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Lasse: Explosions + Vacuum + Fragile pilot suits = cool scar.

The Point: Once upon a time, there was a chaotic and bloody battle for survival. The sides were blurred, good and evil impossible to tell, and many good men died. One cool man in particular, caught dead on by a powerful beam, had his cockpit explode around him, and his cracked helmet floated along in space. Two years later, that man had amnesia and a scar that allegedly made him look cooler.

Sorry, that was Gundam Seed Destiny. In Gundam 00's first season something a lot like that happened, though, only with a guy who wasn't quite as cool, there was no floating helmet in space, and he didn't have amnesia as an excuse to have his overly-endowed captain try everything they could think of, and a few more out of the kama sutra, to return his memory.

(Not pictured: A helmet floating in space.)

The Problem: How does someone survive the equivalent of the interior of a car spontaneously exploding in on them? How could Lasse have gotten back to Celestial Being, when the UN forces won and could control the field and pick up survivors? How could Lasse survive exposure in the vacuum of space in a compromised space suit, what with all the tears and cracks the explosion would have torn in his suit and helmet?

Lasse is hardly the only one to survive this fate, mind you. It seems like the only one who did NOT survive their cockpit exploding around them in space was Alejandro, but the man was piloting a golden GM.

The Fix: Keep him dead. Lasse had even less reason to be kept alive than Christina and Lichtendahl (who had each other, finally), and could have been replaced on the bridge crew just as easily as they were. CB has the manpower: yes, I'm looking at you, Fereshte.

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Ian: Gundam invisibility

The Point: Ian is a pretty cool guy, for a mild-aged engineer in a terrorist organization. He's a cool head of reason, dedicated and loyal, easy to get along with, and can always be counted on to pony up the next battle-winning weapon.

The Problem: He doesn't remember all his own inventions (or at least we never get told). A little known ability of the Gundams is near-perfect optical camouflage, demonstrated at various points when the Gundams are sitting still. Then again, sometimes they don't use it when they're sitting still, which makes it an on-again, off-again tool never really explained on. Since they never told us it had limitations, it is our duty to wonder just why the Meisters didn't fly around with it on all the time, killing aces left and right as invisible death.

The Fix: Alright, there's probably those pesky details like optical camouflage loses its effectiveness the moment you start moving faster than a Tieren. But would it be so hard to tell us what those facts and limitations are?

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Wang Liu Mei: The maids

The Point: Wang Liu Mei has a large and devoted staff of maids (and a butler) to serve her every whim. (Episode 8, season one.)

The Problem: Liu Mei tells them to leave her to her work, and they never show up again. In all the times where the crew of the Ptolemy crashes at her place, relaxes on her private boat, and all the rest, they never make so much as a cameo.

The Fix: Why not throw them in? Doing chores in the background, staring in lust as Lasse does one handed pushups with his rippling muscles, or just for a laugh as Lichtendahl tries to hit on one of them. You can always say that they're part of Celestial Being, there to serve as Liu Mei's assistants, eyes, and ears.

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Hong Long: Incest is not best

The Point: Holy shit, Wang Liu Mei's total beef cake of a bodyguard is her brother, as of a quarter of the way into season two!

The Problem: Couldn't you have told us sooner? Show me the man who didn't wonder for just what other duties Liu Mei kept Hong around for, and I'll show you either a liar, a pre-adolescent, or a yaoi fan girl. You have a season and an intermission worth of hentai doujin out there now that has to be labeled 'incest' now because you couldn't tell us sooner. Is this your idea of a sick joke?

The Fix: Well, it was sort of funny, but next time don't try and make us break down certain societal norms. That is the sort of thing we would appreciate in episode one, first season.

It wouldn't stop the doujin, of course, but the rest of us would feel a lot cleaner today.

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Corner: Corner is a villain

The Point: Corner, the villain! At episode 18, finally proof that he isn't just part of a two-century long terrorist conspiracy, and that he might actually be up to something bad!

The Problem: As far as villains go, Corner was pathetically obvious by the law of cultural averages (Hispanic edge, rich and well educated/elitist, mysterious manservant) while having little actual foreshadowing of his schemes that wasn't perfectly explainable by his alternative duties as a member of Celestial Being. Though his role in Azadistan is vaguely apparent strictly in hindsight, his first indication of acting outside of Celestial Being was when he left in episode 15, presumably to send in the Thrones. As it was, Corner was a villain whose reveal was both woefully under indicated and entirely over-suspected.

The Fix: More sinister foreshadowing, without making the man look even more like a walking Jewish conspiracy. Perhaps it was part voice acting, but a little more apparent sincerity would go a fair ways, as well as charity and generosity. Something to make his smirk during the Meister vs. Throne showdown a surprise.

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Ribbons: Killing Aeolia to fulfill Veda's will to fulfill Aeolia's will. Wait, wtf?

The Point: Ribbons is a scheming little git, but now we can finally place his modus operandi: Ribbons schemes and conspires to fulfill Veda's goals, which in turn are meant to fulfill Aeolia's goals.

The Problem: Since when was suicide one of Aeolia's goals? Conspiring behind Alejandro's own conspiracy, Ribbons brings forth Aeolia so that Alejandro can kill the man who went through a whole lot of trouble so that he could be woken up in the future.

The Fix: Have it revealed that Ribbons, and maybe even Veda, have subverted Aeolia's intentions for their own gain. That might be hard for Veda, which has to date been nothing more than a giant desk top. But if Ribbons is just a power hungry bugger, then having Alejandro kill off Aeolia becomes something more than an exercise in head scratching on our part.

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Laguna: We knew him well

The Point: Not even worthy of Joshua or Ming's two-episode presence, Laguna only had a single episode of face time, though he was central to a plot point was of Kinue's near unraveling of the Corner conspiracy.

The Problem: Remember that single episode of face time? Laguna is shot immediately after, without even the chance to explain why he was a part of Alejandro's conspiracy. He was effectively a one-episode middle man between Ali and the Alejandro/Ribbons conspiracy, and got knocked off, and his murder wasn't even much in the way of shock value.

The Fix: Why bring him up in the first place, when the difference in plot would have been almost indistinguishable (except a bit more interesting for Kinue as she connected the dots) if Nena had said "Corner" instead of "Laguna"? Then Kinue would have effectively unraveled the Corner conspiracy, the conflict in Azadistan, and part of Celestial Being, rather than just died without learning anything other than Ali being a bastard.

(Not pictured: Ali NOT being a bastard.)

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That Nameless Realdo Pilot: Too dumb to get money

The Point: The very Realdo pilot who gives Laguna's (Corner, please!) name to Kinue has a very silly reason to arguably betray his country and not report the money to his superiors: he wants money to throw his daughter a nice birthday party.

The Problem: That's it? If he wanted money, he could have asked his superiors for a raise when reporting it. That kind of info, if not already getting him put on the promotion fast track and having a very nice bonus, would be enough for the government to pay him hush money for the rest of his life, and pay for his daughter's child. Hell, they could convince a Congressman to show up at the kid's birthday part. But no, clearly a civilian Japanese reporter can pay so much more money than the government, and with no possible repercussions from his chain of command.

The Fix: Have him already tell his government, and then want more money from Kinue because he got nothing and he still wants to throw the birthday party. The lead on more conspirators being suspected by the Three Powers would have fit into that dropped thread about Billy and Graham suspecting traitors in the Union military, and would have given the Union military members a season two connection to Sergei and Kati, who are suspicious of the A-LAWS already. Just imagine the fun if our military men and woman get together and add up the following equation.

Corner (UN elite with much influence, showed up out of nowhere with a ten GN-drive mobile armor)

+ Ribbons (former servant of Corner, now very influential man in A-LAW circles)

=???

Come on, admit it. You'd love to see the best of all three powers working together, rather than just Sergei and Kati with Graham and Billy somewhere else.

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Graham: Bleeding speed

The Point: Throughout the series, Graham's need for speed and the threat of it to his body were a steadily increasing constant. Every battle, more and more speed has more and more effect on his body, and soon he's coughing up blood.

The Problem: It had no relevance. For all Billy's warnings that the G-system wasn't safe enough, for Graham's increasingly bloody fights with his high-speed Flag, the issue is never commented on again by anyone, and it serves no purpose other than to make him look cool. He coughs up blood, but none of his so-called friends go "Jesus Christ, get this man to a hospital for internal bleeding!" We writer chimps may not be trained medical professionals, but that doesn't sound good to us.

The Fix: Put him in a hospital after facing down the Throne Eins, for reasons of coughing up blood. Ironically, this would also be the fix for Graham's next absurdity, see below.

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Graham: Stay behind the battle for the GN-Flag

The Point: At Howard Mason's grave, Graham swears to defeat a Gundam with a Flag, and then promptly proceeds to kick the Eins' mechanical tush with just that. But when the gundam-level GN-X's are revealed, Graham says "no thanks" and spends until the last episode doing absolutely nothing of value, presumably to make a point about his code of honor and promises and what not.

The Problem: Even ignoring that Graham could have just gone to space with his Overflag and fought well without a GN drive, the premise is blatantly artificial. The only reason Graham got a chance to use his GN-flag was because the Meisters had their own dues ex machina, trans-am, to make the fight against the UN forces close to even. Without trans-am, the UN forces would have won within three bouts and Darryl would have achieved Howard's revenge before Graham even left Earth.

The Fix: See above. If Graham was in the hospital for pushing himself too far with his Flag, no one could blame him for not going into space. Nothing else would really be changed, and Graham saying "Billy, could you attach a GN-drive to my Flag by the time I'm able to break out of the hospital" would have been a lot more awesome than "I'll stand back while my command, Flag Fighters all, are killed off to the man." He could even send a message to Darryl from Earth saying he's on his way, giving Darryl more impetus to avenge Howard before Graham shows up in his GN-Flag.

Basically, the Union could have been much more kickass, with wounded pilots breaking out of hospitals and running off for a epic battle of revenge, rather than Quixote prideful.

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Joshua: Someone hates Graham?

The Point: Joshua is introduced as a Union-famous pilot, along with two other famous pilots who don't even get faces. It's clear he doesn't like Graham, making him the first person to say so, and he reveals that Graham shot down a superior officer.

The Problem: No one else ever has a problem with Graham again, and the fratricide subplot is only brought up once more when Darryl says that it was just an accident. Nothing more is ever said on the subject.

This is actually another case of an "all in the manual" event, from a Gundam 00 audio CD. Roughly, the story goes that Graham upon entering the Union airforce is a certified genius pilot, pulling of the Graham Special mid-air transformation (1) that the Flag wasn't designed to do, (2) on his very first flight, and (3) without even reading the Flag's manual. Graham's commander, also a drinking buddy, takes a liking to Graham, and says that Graham should marry his daughter. Graham declines, more because he thinks he isn't of an acceptable social class (he's an orphan who joined the military to fly) than because no one has asked the girl's opinion on the matter. And we still never hear why Joshua cares.

The Fix: Keep Joshua around in the Flag Fighters for longer, forcing them to explain what did happen. Maybe Joshua is a friend of the late captain, or a friend/suitor of the young lady, or some combination thereof. Something to personally connect him to Graham, and give him a reason to dislike him. Joshua could be turned into something other than a made-to-be-hated character, perhaps coming to an understanding with Graham after seeing Graham's own anger and grief over the deaths at MSWAD at the cemetery.

And while at it, you know what else could have been done there? Graham visiting the grave of his old Captain. Perhaps his confrontation with Joshua goes there. And who else should show up but a beautiful woman who greets Graham as her father's daughter? More character development all around, and this could still tie in with the two above fixes.

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Kati: Foreign exchange to the same Union university. What are the chances?

The point: Kati the Kickass and Sumeragi (Kujo) both go to the same Union university. What are the chances?

The Problem: What are the chances that two European strategic analysts would go to the same Union university, meet, and become friends, really? As far plot improbabilities go this isn't that major, but it does beg the question of why they included it. Even if they did know each other from their days in the AEU military, is there a reason to have them both be foreign exchange students at the same university? They could have just been war buddies.

The Fix: If Sumeragi was actually Union, then it would raise a few less eyebrows on the statistics and chance board. It's hardly anything critical, anyway, but it is a bit strange.

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Patrick: Beam saber beat-down

The Point: in the Exia's first appearance, it quickly chops up Patrick's Enact both with its GN-blade and a beam saber.

The Problem: Two episodes later, both Graham and Sergei are amazed and taken by surprise that the Gundam Exia has beam sabers that are used to disarm them (literally, in Sergei's case).

This is a plot hole in the first three episodes, even if the beam saber was a 'blink and you miss it' moment in Patrick's overall humiliation. It possibly was an oversight by the animators and writing staff: the animators might have thought that the beam saber would be cool to show off, while the writers and planners had wanted to hold it back to episode three, and no one was talking to eachother.

The Fix: Change the animation of Patrick's dismemberment. The Exia can easily take out Patrick with the GN-blade, and still look amazing and graceful while doing so. Or the Exia can grab the Enact's severed arm and start beating down Patrick's machine while yelling "Stop hitting yourself! Stop hitting yourself!"

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Sergei: Hero of which solar war?

The Point: Sergei is an accomplished, respected, and legendary hero of the 4th Solar War.

The Problem: There was more than one? The only Solar War we get any details on was the one in which Ali bombed Ireland, and that wasn't even a fight between the three powers. Since apparently there were multiple of these conflicts, it would help if we knew the difference between them. Similarly, what role did Ali's Aggressor play in one of those wars or another? Both Sergei and the Aggressor apparently made a name for themselves during the past.

The Fix: More backstory. Saji's in a history/social science class in school, and Kinue worked as a reporter at a news station: use them! We aren't asking for episode-long flashbacks, but just telling us what the war was about and who fought who would be an improvement. This would be a proper thing to be briefly (but concisely) touched on in the series and expounded on in extra material.

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Soma: I like my name (let's change it)

The Point: One reason that Soma declines Sergei's initial offer for adoption was because she was attached to her name and identity as Peries. Sergei respects her feelings, and so she keeps her identity.

The Problem: The moment Ali wakes up Marie, it all gets thrown out of the window. Ali pursued Marie, and Soma Peries is thrown into the background with just her memories to Marie.

The Solution: Tricky. If Soma and Marie were a dual-personality like Allelujah/Hallelujah, they could keep the identity crisis/plot thread going for awhile longer. But too much difference, and Allelujah won't know who he's waking up next to every morning. Which would be interesting, mind you, especially with Hallelujah's return.

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Ming: Token Asian guy

The Point: Another of 00's two-episode characters, Ming exists to be killed off and show Hallelujah to be the sadistic bastard he is, and to demonstrate Chinese honor and bravery.

The Problem: Just like his counterparts Joshua and Laguna, Ming serves no relevant role anywhere else in the series. Joshua existed to be hated and dig up Graham's past, Laguna existed to be shot to cover up his involvement with Alejandro, and Ming existed to be sympathetic and show that Celestial Being really weren't the good guys. We had no indication of him before episode 9, and only a single mourning mechanic mentions him after his death. Despite this, his episodes of mention portrayed him as Sergei's right-hand man, and a brave and capable man to boot.

The Fix: Have Ming be more equivalent to what Howard Mason was to Graham: a reoccurring grunt who gets a few lines here and there before being killed. Putting Ming in scenes with Sergei as an aid and comrade between episodes one and eight wouldn't have been too hard, and would have made his loss that much more dramatic. Sergei wouldn't have to go on a revenge-crusade like Graham, but a mention here and there wouldn't have been out of place either.

Heck, if you want to really bridge seasons, Ming could have known about Sergei's son and family past, implying it once or twice. It would be a stretch, true, but he could have served as a bridge between Sergei and his son, Andrei.

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Ali: Commander Ali, Mighty is He

Point: When Ali is introduced, he is not the Avatar of Chaos he becomes later in the series. He is a field commander in PMC Trust, commands his own band of loyal soldiers, and leads them into the Moralian conflict where he has them not lose a single mobile suit (mostly because he told them to stay put and out of the way). In the past he was a charismatic leader of the Kurdish guerillas, and during the Azadistan arc he once again has his own group of men working for him.

The Problem: They and their mobile suits are never seen again. Not as moving meat shields for Ali, not as cannon fodder, they aren't even shot down and killed. They just… disappear. A few are killed during the rescue of Rasa, but that couldn't have been all of them.

The Fix: Have them killed off a few at a time. Maybe during Moralia the Virtue comes over the ridge, sees them, and kills half of them while Ali makes a retreat after being taken by surprise. During the Azadistan arc, a few of the mutineer soldiers are shown to actually be Ali's men placed in advance. At the hide out where Rasa is kept, another suit or two is kept in standby, and they promptly get killed by Setsuna. Use them, not just lose them.

---

Marina: My political arch-rival was my Sunday school teacher

Point: Alright, he'd probably not be called her Sunday school teacher, but Rasa was revealed to be a mentor and friend of Marina, even if he was her the face of her political enemies.

Problem: Like many good plot twists, it promptly gets dropped. No one else comments on it, instead focusing on the fact he's the head of the traditionalists, and he himself never mentions a word of his connection to the princess even to his Celestial Being saviors.

The Fix: Drop it if you can't develop or bring it up later in the series, and Rasa is going to die in the time skip anyways. Rasa doesn't need to be personally connected to Marina to be the noble political adversary who disagrees with her policies.

--

Saji/Louise: The Mail Paradox

The Point: At the end of the first season Saji narrates a letter he wrote to Louise, tell her that he has gone to space and is waiting for her.

The Problem: During the A-LAW party in episode 8, Setsuna tells Louise that he met Saji in space and she is surprised. Which she wouldn't have been, if she had read the mail he sent. The three explanations are that of plot hole (ugly), that Saji never sent the mail (doubtful, or else why would the epilogue have narrated it if it wasn't sent?), or that the mail was intercepted before Louise could see it (possible).

The Fix: Make it so Ribbons used Veda's connections to have the mail stopped so that he alone would have influence over Louise's mindset and thoughts. If you really want to make a conspiracy out of it, Ribbons and Veda could also have arranged Saji's arrest and transfer to Proud colony just before the first use of the automatons, intending to get him out of the way and unable to influence Louise.

---

Kinue: Taking rides from strangers

The Point: Desperate for a lead and suspecting a major international businessman of bankrolling a terrorist group, Kinue does what any sensible reporter would do: she runs in front of the first car to drive out of the office and asks to interview the driver about whether or not his boss is behind international terrorism. Said driver turns out to be Prince Ali, who's done far more terrorism by the age of thirty than Laguna ever will. Kinue gets in the car, gets the interview of her life, and then is promptly shot for knowing too much (and presumably for not laughing at Ali's dead baby jokes).

The problem: Everything. Kinue being the only one to know about Laguna was already touched on, but how bizarre does a universe have to be for any of that series of events to make sense?

Kinue stops Ali from going on his rampaging way by running in front of his moving vehicle: if he wasn't on Laguna's property, we all know Ali would have run her over.

(Not pictured: a Kinue-shaped imprint on the hood of Ali's car.)

Then Kinue asks to interview a Laguna employee about whether Laguna is associated with terrorists. If that employee didn't know, well, all and good. But if Laguna was working with terrorists, and this employee does know, then by extension doesn't that mean he's working with terrorists? That's kind of like going to a stranger in a dark ally and asking "are you the kind of mass murderer who shoots people for asking questions?"

Then Kinue got into the car with a stranger for an impromptu interview, rather than penciling in an interview at another time and day where she wouldn't be asking dangerous questions of a stranger with no security. That's not just bad public safety skills that they teach kindergarteners, it's also bad journalism.

To make a coup in the ludicrous, Ali then goes on to give her the interview in which he makes all sorts of incriminating remarks. Though he kills her to keep her silent afterwards, she still has her wallet in the ally, which also means she could have still had, say, a secret recorder hidden in her pocket, bra, and/or purse. And that she could have had a transmitter to send a live copy of their interview to a secure recorder, creating the perfect incriminating evidence against Laguna and Ali. All because Ali felt like running his mouth.

The Fix: Do away with the scene entirely, and have Kinue use contacts and bribes to break into Laguna's office, find information, and then be caught by Ali who drives back after realizing he forgot his coat. Kinue gets her information, gets killed before she can send it somewhere safe, and doesn't demonstrate the caution of a pre-schooler. Or, if bribes and contacts aren't hot enough, Kinue could have dressed up in a black jumpsuit and used her Japanese female ninja reporter skills to break in. Mmm, female ninjas.

(Not pictured: Kinue in a ninja suit in Laguna's office. Because she's a ninja.)

---

Union: Map Quest

The Point: The Union, the first power to complete its elevator system and get power, unlimited power, is actually the least-unified power, with member states actively trying to break away. Irony of naming aside, the Union composes all of North and South America (except Greenland), and also covers the Western Pacific with an energy pipeline running from South America to Australia, Japan and… not the Philippines, even though the League tower is right beside Australia.

The Problem: Huh? That map makes little geopolitical sense to anyone with a understanding of economics and history, both in regards to the pacific and of the Northern Atlantic. As the first power to get its Solar Energy supplies operational and the American influence, North America would have been one of the first countries to get the solar energy, and it would only be a short hop over to Greenland and to finish the fortification of Fortress America. Instead Europe, which ten years after the League finished the Pillar of Heave _still_ hasn't completed their own tower, somehow got Greenland along. Deciding that Greenland is a channel too far, the Union proceeded to build a trans-Pacific pipeline to both Australia and Japan, but neglected the Philippines.

For those who are confused as to why this seems counter-intuitive (many don't remember that the Philippines are also a US ally in the Pacific), dust off your text books and look at Japanese economics and history. Japan isn't just an energy importer, it's completely dependent on imports for raw and necessary resources period. Food, steel, you name it, Japan is always about a week from starvation. Secure sea lanes are a requirement, and the very reason Japan attacked the US in WW2 was because the Philippines sit on those sea lanes. So if the Union can pump energy to Japan AND Australia before the League, they should also be pumping energy to the Philippines or else Japan would starve into submission within weeks of any conflict as the only open sea lanes would be those all the way to the Americas. If the Philippines were allied, the Union could trade between Australia and Japan via the Philippines with a fair deal more safety.

Australia is also a curiosity, considering how close it is to the League's tower. Australia is an obvious launching post for any Union attack on the League's energy source, and so would have been a priority for the League to convince to join. The Philippines and Japan together can blockade the League's Chinese coast, but the League is a land-based power anyway. The Union navy can be pushed back from the tower, but Australia is a continent-sized unsinkable aircraft carrier that heavy fighters and bombers can launch from. (Strangely, this is never touched upon in the series.)

The Fix: Since no plot-critical events would be changed, just re-color the map as needed. The Union should get Greenland regardless, while the Pacific should see either the Philipines go Union, Japan and Australia go League, or a sensible combination thereof.

---

AEU: Will sell Hellions for cheap(er)

The Point: In episode one, we see evil terrorists using Hellions to attack the League tower. Ignoring how Celestial Being just happened to know about the attack ahead of time, and how the attack just so happened to be at the exact same time as the European Enact trials in Africa, Sergei curses the AEU for selling Hellions to anyone who will buy them, even terrorists.

The Problem: Everyone else, terrorists, insurgents, and small countries alike, seems to use the League Anf's instead. The only non-European force using Hellion's after episode one are the terrorists Lockon kills in South America in episode 8. All the other countries and groups we see use Leage Anf's (in the middle east especially), Teirens, or Union Realdos.

The Fix: More Hellions outside of the AEU, especially in Africa and the Middle East.

---

HRL: Commie space capitalists

The Point: The Human Reform League is given a strong Russian/Soviet Union vibe, with invocations of mother/father land, overly-strict military, comparatively primitive but durable weapons, and lots of saluting.

The Problem: The League and Soviet Union have almost nothing in common. The League ruling party is democratically elected, the country is by all appearances capitalist, and there are no signs that the League is just waiting to burst out in a wave of conquest over Eurasia. Come to that, Russia isn't even in the League. European Russia, where most of the population, industry, history, and wealth are, is west of the Urals and is in the AEU. What the League controls is Siberia, which while containing many resources over its vast expanse, is also sparsely populated and likely always will be. It's, like, really cold. The fact that Sergei is the Wild Bear of Russia in the Human Reform League is a marvel, since ethnic Russians would be the same kind of ethnic minority in the League that ethnic Hawaiins are in the United States.

The Fix: Russian stereotypes are awesome and all, but if you're looking for something other than 'Soviets with Chinese architecture' you should focus a lot more on the Indian influence in the League. India has about the same population as China (in fact, India is going to surpass China in the next thirty years), but it has no cultural punch in the show. Why not show some ethnic Indians as well as your Chinese grunts? Let's see some curry restaurants, or maybe Wang Liu Mei as a Bollywood star.

---

Those Terrorists: Underpants Political Activism

The Point: Terrorists hate other terrorists getting in on their act. At least that's the message in episode eight, where an international terrorist group begins attacking civilian population centers until Celestial Being stops its interventions, because clearly the way to convince an ideological movement that has no concern about civilian casualties to stop is to blow up more civilians.

The Problem: Besides the fact that protests break out against Celestial Being, and not the bombers? This is what is referred to as underwear activism, which is a simple three-stage plan to ending any war.

(1)Set off bombs among innocent civilians

(2)???

(3)War ends, terrorists lay down arms

The name comes from the fact this is the sort of plan amateur revolutionaries like the Weatherman Underground think of early in the morning before they even put on their underpants.

The Fix: It would have been much more reasonable if the terrorist group had been using a copy-cat strategy, claiming to be Celestial Being for their attacks. Celestial Being gets the blame, while the terrorists further their own private goals. The three powers would quickly realize that it isn't actually Celestial Being behind the attacks, and quietly give Celestial Being information needed to find the terrorists.


	10. Nightmare

---

00 S2 Drabble 10

Nightmare

---

**  
**_You will never know true happiness until you have truly loved, and you will never understand what pain really is until you have lost it._

**-Anonymous**

---

Kati Mannequin stares at the scene before her, and sees the past. Once again she is in a dirty white hospital tent, the kind that the wounded are brought to before they are either shipped to a real hospital to be repaired or put into the plentiful black body bags that line the floor.

_The lone remaining GN-XIII, woefully obsolescent months ago, endures beam after beam. Its weak GN-barrier shield begins to falter as yet another shot hammers into it. But the enemy pilot, in a hurry to end the battle before reinforcements arrives, charges forward to administer a final blow and destroy the command vessel._

There is the strategic planner, bent over the broken and fading soldier, her back hiding him from view. That he is still alive was a miracle in itself, but a fading one. Even without seeing the face she can see the struggle to keep his lungs breathing, his heart beating.

_The last guardian refuses to make way for the charging titan. Bringing its lance to bear, it parries the first, and then the second blow. But the difference between their qualities is too great as cracks appear, and the third blow shatters the entire arm._

There were the quiet words of trust and loyalty exchanged, loyalty freely given but not in the least deserved. A loyalty that traded one tragedy for another.

_Not faltering, not giving a meter, he draws his beam saber, warning the Gundam against pressing the attack. With a single slash, it rewards him for his folly even as the crew of the bridge watch the battle on the other side of the battle-quality glass._

Kati knows what is going on through the analyst's mind even as ever other bit of attention is focused on the dying man. "Where did I go wrong?" the strategic planner is asking herself. "Why did I not see it?" Kati herself has never faced such self-questioning, but she knows of it.

"_Patrick!" Kati yells as the GN-XIII's head is cleaved from its shoulders in a mighty blow. "Fifteen more seconds!" yells the combat controller, counting the time before the first mobile suit returns to fight off the Gundam's surprise attack._

The setting is surreal, and Kati realizes that it is a dream because she hasn't laid eyes on Kujo in years and yet the other woman still looks the same as on that day, recognizable even from behind.

"_I'll give you twenty, Commander!" the European ace boasts over the open link, as if his main cameras haven't been torn off. With dexterity reminiscent of his days as a glorified exhibition pilot, he twists his suit and kicks one of the two gun-blades out of the Gundam's hands._

"Is this why you joined them?" she asks, with curiously little venom to the woman who swore to end conflicts but now only prolongs them. "Because of one lost soldier?"

_The leg is promptly lost as the other blade comes crashing down, and his beam saber is smashed out of his grip and into the depths of space. Undeterred, Patrick only turns that force into his own, landing a staggering roundhouse against the Gundam._

Kujo answers, but without any hint of the tears that Kati remembers from that day. "You know how I thought. That if I ended battles quickly enough, few would die. I invested into that belief, lived by it. Killed by it."

_It takes only a few seconds for the two-drived behemoth to regain its balance, but that is all the time Patrick needs to charge, tackling into the enemy and driving him away from the cruiser's command bridge. _

"And when you lost one man, you thought you would join Celestial Being and end all wars? Don't make me laugh. You weren't that naïve in college, Kujo."

_One tau-drive is no match for those two drives combined, though, and soon Patrick is pushed back even closer to the bridge than where he had started. A shrug of the Gundam's arms frees it from the grapple, and once again Patrick is the only thing standing between it and the bridge, only this time he has no weapons left._

"Maybe I was, and you just didn't realize," she countered, and for a moment she was as strong and sure as she had ever been. "But Emilio…"

"_Patrick!" Kati calls again, and no one on the bridge begrudges her as they watch the man take blow after blow. The Gundam is swinging, trying to land a final blow, but Patrick is too evasive. To say he dodges would be wrong. Patrick only avoids each fatal strike._

"Emilio believed in me, far more than I did myself. You respected me, our commanders praised me, but he believed I could do anything. He didn't fight for the country, or for the mission. He fought for _me_. Do you have any idea what that meant to me? For me?"

"_I!" he begins as the first slash takes what's left of his lance arm. "Will!" The second rips a tear in the outer cockpit door, ripping it and the front cockpit screens into space. Patrick is fighting without cameras now, only from pure machine memory and his own view into space. "Protect!" The third takes his last leg. "The Commander!" he cries over the open channel, and Kati knows that she couldn't order him to run away and live if she tried._

"When Emilio died, I wanted nothing more than to prove him right, but didn't know how. I hated war, hated those meaningless battles in the name of national pride and self-interest. And so I left, and was offered a chance to honor his faith beyond anyone's wildest dreams."

_The first beam blazes by as the reinforcements return. The Gundam pauses, its main camera turning towards the approaching A-LAWS in a passable imitation of surprise. Rallying to the reinforcements, Patrick lunges forward and lands a punch against the Gundam's head with his one remaining arm. The GN-coated claws of the GN-XIII leave deep scratches against the Gundam's face mask._

Kati narrows her eyes at Kujo's back and walks forward towards her still un-turned back. "War has always been with us, and always will. Even after you unified the world against you, we're still fighting and killing each other. Nothing changes just because you lose a member of your command, no matter how important he or she is to you."

_Kati and the bridge crew watch in a mix of horror and dread as the Gundam cuts off Patrick's last arm. In a show of brute strength and brutality reminiscent of the worst battles of years ago, the Gundam slams its weaponless hand into the cockpit section of the GN-XIII and moves the ruined suit to act as a shield against the ever more accurate shots from the reinforcements. Letting go even as the first shot hits Patrick's suit, spinning it around with each impact, the Gundam turns towards the bridge only meters away and draws back its sword in preparation for a lethal thrust._

"Do you really think that?" asks the woman in front of her as she steps ever closer. "Do you have any beliefs you would live, die, and kill for? Anyone you would fight against the world for? Do you have no regrets? Or have you never had anything _to_ regret?"

_How he managed to act with his body broken and his leg crushed is never reasonably explained. The pitiless claim that a friendly beam thrust him in the way, that he had no control, but Kati knows that it was no accident. What is clear is the final effect: Patrick intercepts the thrust with his own body uses his own rotation as torque to wrench the sword through the GN-XIII's own ruined body and out of the Gundam's hand, where it is promptly destroyed by a stray beam. With no weapons at hand and no time to draw any more before the reinforcements swarm it, the twin drive Gundam turns and flees._

"That's enough excuses, Kujo!" Kati shouts, hand on the shoulder to turn the other woman...

"_Patrick!" Kati cries for the third time in thirty seconds, the thirty seconds he bought for them all. More than one of the soldiers has already bowed his head in solemn respect, and even Colonel Lindt has no biting comment when Kati turns her head with tears already on the inside of her visor_

and as the woman turns to face her it isn't Kujo kneeling over a soldier, but Kati herself, and she realizes that it isn't Emilio lying dead and dying on that cot because that hair is too red and Patrick, still in his piloting suit and bloody and he's looking at her because he's about to ask her why she let him die but

_there is a gasp, and she looks and wishes she hadn't because it's only half of Patrick floating in front of the bride and she knows he isn't dead yet because he's looking at her and calling her name and he's worried and she can tell because his voice is wavering and his face is concerned and still so clear because_

it is hovering right in front of her own as he shakes the same shoulder she had put her hand on Kujo, close enough that when she startles awake she automatically lashes out and hits him in the face. He stumbles back, but doesn't pay it any mind as she gets her breathing under control.

"Are you alright, Colonel?" he asks again, concern evident even though her blow is already leaving a red mark on his cheek.

Kati breathes and shivers at the cold sweat she can feel under her A-LAW uniform. "A dream," she explains. "Just give me a moment."

Patrick is many things, good and bad, but patient isn't one of them. "Do you want me to go get the doctor? Do you want anything from the cafeteria? Do you want to talk about it?" he frets, making a convincing impression of a mother hen.

"I'm fine!" Kati snaps, and feels a pang of guilt at Patrick's wounded expression. He's only worried for her, and even if she can't remember her dream it's still no reason to snap at him. "I'm fine," she says again, softer and more gently. "It was just a bad dream."

He looks as convinced as she sounds. "Patrick, would you please bring me some stew from the mess hall?" she tries again, straightening her glasses on her face to regain her poise. "Perhaps I need something warm to eat."

He immediately straightens at the chance to be helpful, and Kati almost smiles when he nearly runs into the door in his haste to get to the mess hall.

"Patrick?" she calls just he's halfway out the door, quieter than her normal command voice that she's so used to. She wouldn't have blamed him if he hadn't recognized or heard it. But Patrick hears her just the same and stops on a dime, leaning backwards into the room to look at her.

"When you get back, we can talk about transferring you to a better mobile suit."


	11. 00 Riser

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00 S2 Drabble 11

00 Riser

---

The 00 Gundam: A mobile suit that defies all logic.

-Bandai teaser description

---

"Trans-am!"

Setsuna flipped activated the system, and a stream of GN particles poured from the 00 Riser. Soon Setsuna and his co-pilot fell into the ethereal realm, able to see the natural form of all around them.

"What the…?" was Ian's only exclamation before Louise's yell of "dirty old wrinkled pervert!" filled the airwaves.

"That's sexual harassment, Papa!" chided Millenia after hearing their strange tale afterwards.

---

"So you're saying that when you used trans-am, you were suddenly able to see the truest nature of everyone?" asked a skeptical Lockon.

"Yes," said Setsuna. "It was as if everyone's soul was laid bare for all to see, everything stripped away. I don't think I could have lied if I had tried."

"Laid bared for all to see, huh? That sounds like quite an experience," said Lyle. "Doesn't that sound interesting, Anew?" he asked the Ptolemy's newest member.

Anew blushed and demurred.

---

"So this is what it's like…" breathed Feldt from the 0 Riser's cockpit as the 00 underwent a test of the twin drive. "It's just like Setsuna described… Can you see anything, Haro?"

"Nothing! Nothing!" Lockon's partner cried in his tell-tale pattern.

Feldt listened, but looked around at the others inside the Gundam-carrier. When she turned her head, she could barely see Setsuna's shoulders in the cockpit of the 00, and just as he had described she could 'see' him in his entirety.

A careless glimpse below gave an unsought view of Saji Crossroads, who was looking up and calling out to Setsuna from below in what looked to be a very compromising angle. Fortunately for the Crossroad's modesty and Feldt's ability to look at him without blushing for the next week, the mind's eye's view from the 00 Riser respected modesty and had removed most cause for concern.

Looking around, Feldt could see others throughout the ship. There, in the monitoring room, worked father and daughter pair Ian and Millenia, unaware of their appearance. (Or maybe Ian was aware, and had wanted his daughter away from any wandering eyes.). At the bridge sat Lasse, diligently monitoring the ship's activities. Asleep in her room was Sumeragi, draped over an invisible bad, arms flailed in an image most men would pay to see. Asleep in another room was Tieria, a figure women as well would pay to see. There, in the lounge, chatted Lockon and Anew Returner, the suave Meister doing his best to make the newest addition feel at ease. Feldt had memories of the first Lockon's kindness to her, and smiled softly as she spied on the second.

Innocent of memories of old were suddenly replaced by shockingly un-innocent thoughts of present when Feldt found the final two members of the Celestial Crew not in neither Marie's cabin or in Allelujah's room. Having discovered the limitation of the mind's eye's modesty, Feldt flushed and looked as far away from the hanger bay as she could, resolving on the spot to never do maintenance in the Arios's cockpit again.

---

Marie stood beside the 0 Riser, waiting for the time to start the test. The normal participant, Saji Crossroads, had come down sick and was unable to take part. When Ian had asked Feldt to sit in the 0 Riser, the young girl had begged off. And so it was that Marie had been asked by a hesitant Ian to fill in.

"It's easy," Ian had said to her and Allelujah in the dining hall. "All you have to do is sit there and manage the flow of the drive. I would do it myself, but I need to be handling the data real-time as well and I need my daughter to help me."

The tales of what happened during trans-am were a bit off-putting, but Marie had agreed to do her part and help. And so here she was, waiting for Setsuna to arrive so that they could begin the test.

Right as the time to begin arrived, she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Ready to try this out?" asked a friendly voice, and there was Allelujah in his piloting suit.

"Allelujah!" she exclaimed, surprised, and he laughed. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" she looked around and then asked "Where's Setsuna? We're supposed to begin once he gets here."

"I'm taking his place," her lover said in a deeper voice than normal, gold eye flashing as Marie began to feel the start of a headache. "Setsuna is tied up at the moment."


	12. Allelujah’s Retrieval Service

I couldn't decide whether to try this seriously or with humor, and so I tried for both. I don't think I achieved it, but it was an exercise in practice and I think it still wins some points for absurdity.

A lot of these could have been expanded into full, better oneshots, and this entire idea could have been made into a mini-series, a separate fic in itself. But that seemed too long and too much commitment, and so I left it as is.

Personally, my favorite sections are the first (interesting character interaction, and could have been respectable on its own) and Allelujah's present for Marie.

Forgive the lack of editing, but I'm not sure how my week will allow internet for the rest of the week.

---

00 S2 Drabble 12

Allelujah's Retrieval Service

---

"What's the difference?"

---

The door to his dark room opened, but Saji didn't move from his bed. "Setsuna…" he said, "I'm sorry, but please. Just leave me alone for now."

"I'm sorry to disturb you," said a voice most certainly not from the young Kurdish Gundam pilot. Saji sat up and looked towards the door, where his orange-colored guest stood. "May I come in?"

Saji nodded, confused, and the other young man walked in, taking the room's chair as the door closed behind him.

"You're… Allelujah, right?" asked Saji, wondering why the Meister was visiting him. Most of the Celestial Being crew left him alone unless business was involved; aside from spending work time with Ian, only Setsuna went out of his way to greet him. Not to say that the crew ignored him or was rude, but he wasn't one them.

Allelujah smiled, and Saji noticed his dichromatic eyes. "Allelujah Haptism. And you're Saji Crossroad," he said with no doubt. "I've heard about you."

Saji looked away, and Allelujah backtracked. "Nothing bad!" he lied, as they both remembered Tieria's views of Saji. "Setsuna's talked about you, and let me tell you that when Setsuna talks about something or someone, it means he's put a lot of thought about them."

Saji wasn't sure how to respond, and said nothing. But Allelujah continued. "Setsuna's concerned for you. Even Marie said good things for you, and suggested I come here to talk to you. It's about the girl, isn't it?"

Saji nodded. "It's… I just can't believe-"

But Allelujah interrupted him. "'I can't believe she would have joined A-LAWS.' 'She wouldn't be there if she was in her right mind.' 'She was always so kind.'" He said, pretending to be quoting Saji. "That's what you were going to say, right?"

Saji chuckled nervously. "Well, she could be pushy at times…"

Allelujah laughed. "Of course. But," he said, leaning forward, "you aren't the first person to have this problem, not by a long shot. I've gone through the same experience, just after Setsuna rescued you."

Saji looked up at Allelujah. "You did?" he asked, and Allelujah nodded. "Louise blames you for murdering her parents. I know you didn't, but she doesn't. She won't listen. How did you convince Marie?"

Allelujah leaned back. "I told her the truth," he said. "She didn't believe me at first, didn't even remember me, but when she did and we had time to talk…" he smiled. "Well, you've met Marie."

"But how can I get her to listen to me?" Saji asked. "She's fighting for the A-LAWS, and I'm here. I'm not a pilot like you, I can't make her stop and listen." His shoulders slumped. "It's hopeless."

"It's never hopeless." Allelujah said firmly, causing Saji to straighten by reflex. "As long as you don't give up, it can still happen. You're with people who can help you. Here," he said, pulling out a card from his pocket and handing it to Saji.

"'Allelujah's Rescue Service'?" Saji read. "'For when the love of your life is on the other side of the battlefield'?"

Allelujah blushed and scratched his head. "I sort of made that as a joke to myself when Marie was with A-LAWS, to convince myself that I could do it. But I thought I'd keep it. Maybe I should make a business out of it," he laughed. "But we'll help you save her, I promise. Consider this one on the house."

---

Convincing the crew had been a matter of putting it in terms of their interest. Setsuna readily agreed out of his friendship with Saji. Marie would have supported him anyway, was sympathetic to Saji's plight, and hoped that Louise could be brought away from the A-LAWS. Millenia thought it was romantic. Ian was convinced on grounds of being able to analyze the custom-enact and its specialized technology. Lockon, Feldt, and Anew were amiable and willing to help.

The hardest to convince had not been Tieria (who merely grunted in annoyance and warned he wouldn't be distracted from the true enemy), but Sumeragi, who insisted "Celestial Being is not a kidnapping organization for strays." But she had been convinced of the strategic value when Tieria had revealed that Louise, as the last Halevy, was a major investor in A-LAW mobile suit development. "I am not consenting to this because I've changed my mind," Sumeragi had warned Allelujah. "I'm only allowing this because removing Louise Halevy will hamper the A-LAWS mobile suit development. But either alive or dead is fine with me."

Allelujah had thanked her profusely on Saji's behalf, given her a nice bottle of wine, and then promptly gone off to inform Setsuna and the other Meisters of the upcoming rescue mission. A surprise raid later, so fast that the A-LAWS didn't even have time to scramble all their suits before the Gundams had disabled the custom suit and were hauling it away, and Allelujah proudly stood in the Ptolemy's hanger as Ian prepared to force open the cockpit.

"Allelujah…" Saji said while standing beside him and watching as the cockpit slowly opened. "I… I really don't know what to say."

"Why not 'thank you'?" offered Marie, standing on the other side. "That's a good place to start. Allelujah," she said, turning to look at him with loving eyes, "you really are too kind."

Allelujah only laughed. Saji was about to thank him, but Allelujah gestured towards the custom Enact's cockpit as a well armored and armed Ian gestured for the pilot to exit. Everyone watched as the pilot came into view.

Allelujah blinked. "I didn't realize she was so… muscular," he said, thinking of something nice to say.

Marie, on the other hand, started surprise and pushed herself forward towards the downed machine. "Lieutenant Andrei Smirnov! What are you doing here?"

Andrei Smirnov, hands in the air but defiant in the face of Ian's rifle, turned in surprise at the sound of his name. "Lieutenant Peries? You were alive? But…!"

The rest of their exchange was lost to Saji and Allelujah.

"I… really don't know what to say," said Saji again, but there wasn't any sense of awe and near-worshiping respect in his tone this time.

"'Better luck next time?'" Allelujah offered.

---

With the information Marie was able to get out of the surprised Andrei before he clammed up and refused to speak, Celestial Being learned their mistake, which was ironically to be too quick and too good in their surprise raid to steal the mobile suit. In the frantic chaos of the emergency alert, pilots and even mechanics had jumped into the nearest mobile suit at hand to ward off the surprise attack. Walking past Louise's machine, Andrei had jumped in and taken off long before Louise had had a chance to leave her quarters where she was on her sleep rotation.

So the next time Celestial Being attacked, they allowed a bit more warning. Not that they needed to; after the last raid, and enemy commander had wisely put more pilots on ready at all times. With Marie's suggestion, it became just a matter of looking for which of the mass-produced models looked to have the most exceptional pilot, and then for Lockon to disable her and for the rest to throw back the other enemies.

And so they were once again back in the hanger, watching as Ian opened the GN-XIII's cockpit. Allelujah and Marie stood with Saji, but this time congratulations were waiting for afterwards.

"Think we saved her?" Allelujah whispered to Marie, trying to not show his doubt to Saji.

"I hope so," whispered Marie back. "Lieutenant Halevy was a respectable pilot, from what I saw. If she could have a request for a custom suit approved, then she's definitely been seen as a step above most regular pilots. Anyone better than her, and other ace would be piloting something better, right?"

Wrong, as they realized even before they saw the pilot.

"Not happy to steal our mobile suit, but now you're kidnapping the Immortal Colasour? What are you up to, Celestial Being? Eh?"

Saji didn't say anything, and Allelujah and Marie watched him leave without even seeing their new 'guest.' Saji greeted them cheerfully enough later at dinner, but when Allelujah returned to his room afterwards he found a small card.

It was a new version of the card he had handed to Saji. Re-designed and touched up with a touch of professionalism, it certainly had a more business feel to it. But most telling was a change to the words.

"Allelujah's Retrieval Service," it read. "Getting that person close to your heart back from the other side of the battlefield, or your money back."

Marie laughed when she read it, and so Allelujah forgave Saji his little joke, even when he found more of the cards scattered around the ship. But when their latest guest eventually asked to see him with card in hand, and Allelujah wondered what he had started.

---

"Colonel Mannequin," Sergei said with some surprise. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"It's good to see you too, Sergei," said the A-LAWS officer, both with unusual tone and uncommonly casual.

Sergei looked closer at his co-conspirator with surprise and a little worry. "Are you alright, Colonel?" he asked with some concern.

"No," Kati admitted, though from her expression Sergei had already gathered that. Even inside a combat space suit, her normally tidy manner was a mess, her hair was slightly disheveled, and her eyes were slightly bloodshot. "My ship is disgraced, my best pilots have been kidnapped, and I haven't had an hour's sleep in days. I'm only awake now thanks to nanites and stimulants, and no one knows what's going to happen next."

Sergei was no stranger to a shortage of sleep; during the Solar War, sleep had been a luxury at times in the age of modern medicine and stimulants. But that made his concern no less sincere. "What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know," Kati confessed before spilling the entire story. "Ever since we attacked their base, Celestial Being has changed their MO. After their first attack, I thought they were just taking the advantage to steal our most advanced suit, the quantum brainwave model. The captured it and the pilot inside, and then fled. But then they attacked again, and took care to capture my… my best pilot, alive." Her stumble, unintentional, was a clue at her distress and helplessness.

"What then?" asked Sergei, confused as she was.

"They did it again, and again and again. First it was one at a time, then two, and by the end they disabled and took the last of my suits. They can't have taken them all for intelligence. I now have more pilots than suits, and we're defenseless"

Sergei sat straighter with alarm. "Defenseless?"

"They aren't trying to kill us," Kati said, though by the sound of her tone she might have preferred it. "They're looking for someone, and though I don't know why I do know who. We're meeting with more ships as we return to Earth, for protection. For whatever reason they want one pilot so much, I'm not going to let it happen."

Sergei narrowed his eyes. "Perhaps it's time I transferred to A-LAWS as well," he offered. "It sounds as if you could use some support."

A week ago Kati would have forcefully refused the offer. The fact that she seriously considered his offer concerned him as much as her tale. "No," she said. "Stay where you are; I want to send the target to someone I can trust. If I-" she was cut off by alarms. "What?" she exclaimed. "Again?!"

"Colonel?" Sergei said, but Kati was already no longer listening to him.

"But we have no more mobile suits, they must know that! Have they changed their mind?"

"Colonel!" Sergei yelled. "Colonel Mannequin!"

Kati stood up. "Are they going to try and board us, or rip us apart to search?" She ignored Sergei's calls and ran to the bridge. She didn't return.

---

"I was right," said the ghost from Sumeragi's past. "It was you all the time, Kujo."

Sumeragi looked back. "You're looking well too, Kati," she said, and felt the urge for a drink.

Kati only glared. "Why did you do it, Kujo? I never thought you would be so foolish, back in college. Whose mind do you think you'll win with actions like these?"

Sumeragi held back a wince at the tone. "I don't expect others to understand or agree," she said, "but I had faith that we could stop conflicts through our plan. We were certainly making progress."

"Stopping conflict?" Kati asked. "That's a stupid goal too, of course, but I was asking why you've been kidnapping my command one by one, and then went out of your way to capture me."

"Oh, well," Sumeragi said, a bit off put that her prepared words were now useless. "I didn't exactly go out of my way to capture you."

Kati raised an eyebrow. "Having a gundam thrust its arm through the window of my bridge, grab me, and then spirit me away wasn't out of your way?"

Sumeragi winced. "It wasn't my idea. I just approved it because doing so helps us. You're a formidable opponent, Kati," she praised, trying to fend off the criticism she heard coming.

It didn't help. "Not your idea? What sort of operation are you running, Kujo? Can't you control your own men?"

"Not really," Sumeragi admitted. "We're pretty easy-going here." Seeing the opportunity, she took out her flask and took a drink. "Want a sip?" she offered.

"No," said Kati. "Now tell me why you're trying to kidnap one of my pilots."

"If you tell me where Louise Halevy is," Sumeragi offered, admitting why exactly they had kidnapped Kati Mannequin.

Kati sneered. "Safe from you," she said. "I transferred her to the Memento Mori, at the heart of the A-LAW fleet. Please, try and get her."

Sumeragi seemed unreasonably cheerful, possibly from the strong drink. "Well, if you insist!" she said. "We were going to destroy your new toy anyway."

Kati suppressed her smirk, but couldn't suppress her shock when a voice behind her said "She's lying. I can tell from her brain waves; she sent Louise to Earth, to someone she trusts." Behind her was a familiar silver-haired girl.

"Lieutenant Peries! You were alive?" Kati asked, shocked that Sergei's report was wrong.

The young woman winced. "Do you have any idea of how sick I am of hearing that every time someone one of you sees me? I am Marie. MA-RIE."

Sumeragi interrupted. "That's fine, Marie. Please, escort Colonel Mannequin to the detention block."

Kati looked at Sumeragi one last time. "You have an entire detention block?"

Sumeragi took another swig of beer. "We do now. We're still expanding, so excuse the spacing."

---

As they walked down the halls, Kati marveled at the space and organization, and at the obvious air-tight doors that could be sealed at any sign of trouble. She marveled even more at her guide.

"Lieutenant Peries," she began.

"MA-RIE. It's not hard, Colonel."

"Marie," she said, humoring her, "how are you still alive? The Colonel… he told me you had died in combat. Did Celestial Being recover you? Are they forcing you to help them?"

Soma looked down slightly, and proved to Kati that she was Soma Peries. "No," Soma admitted. "The Colonel allowed me to leave with Celestial Being after I regained my lost memories, on the promise that I never have to fight."

"Lost memories?" Kati wondered.

"I'll tell you later," Soma promised. "We're here," she said, stopping in front of the room. "We don't have enough cells for everyone, so we had to put you with someone else. This one claimed you know him, and he asked that we take special care in keeping you unharmed. But if he gives you any trouble please let me know right away and I'll find a solution."

Kati had a moment of dread and anticipation as the door opened. The occupant looked to the door, and Kati's feelings encompassed both relief and exasperation all in one.

"Colonel, you're safe! I didn't believe them when they said they were going to capture you alive, but…"

---

"So she's on Earth, huh?" asked Allelujah after Marie related Kati's hidden thoughts. "Well, that'll make our task of taking down the Memento Mori easier. Think you can wait a bit longer, Saji?"

Saji sat across the table and nodded. "Now we won't have to worry when we attack the Memento Mori. That relieves me like nothing else."

Marie and Allelujah were both surprised. "We? You have decided to fight, Saji?" asked Marie. "You don't have to. Ian can take care of the 00's Twin Drive."

Saji shook his head. "I can't just stay here and watch while everyone else risks their lives. I still owe it to Kataron to help you against the A-LAWS, and if you all are trying to rescue Louise then it's the least I could do to support Setsuna."

Marie and Allelujah exchanged looks. "I'm surprised," admitted Allelujah. "When that captured pilot asked me to make sure we captured…" he looked at Marie.

"Kati," she supplied.

"Kati alive and unharmed," he continued, "I never thought it would motivate you like this. I guess my business is giving all sorts of dividends, huh?"

"You should make a franchise," Marie suggested, playing with one of the business cards.

---

And they did. "Allelujah's Retrieval Service: Recovering those on the wrong side of the battle field" read the new cards, expanding from just lost-loves to serving any need. The cards popped up everywhere; on the bridge, in the hanger bay, and even on the meal trays for the impressive number of A-LAW prisoners.

The first customer was Tieria, much to everyone's surprise. Soon after the battle at the Memento Mori, Tieria cautiously walked into their 'office,' holding one of the cards.

"I never thought I would be involved with this foolishness," Tieria said, "but I could use your services."

Saji and Allelujah looked at each other, and back at Tieria. "You know someone out of Celestial Being?" asked Allelujah in surprise.

Tieria frowned. "I knew this was a waste of time. Forget it," he said, turning to leave.

"Sorry, sorry," Allelujah said, "I'm just surprised. Who do you want rescued?"

Tieria frowned again, in a slightly different manner. "Not rescued. Retrieved. I want you to retrieve someone from the Innovators, alive."

Eyebrows flared. "That's a pretty important target. Can you tell me who?"

Tieria looked around, and then sighed and bowed his head. "Regene Regetta. He is my genetic twin. I want him away from the Innovators, where I can keep my eye on him."

---

A long-time soldier, Sergei was used to dealing with unusual orders from the top. He'd probably given some himself. One of his newest pilots, however, wasn't.

"Sir? Why are we being sortied? I was didn't know any enemies were in our region."

"Neither did I," said Sergei. "But this came down from the very top and went out to all units. We are to try and find any trace of Celestial Being and to report in. We are not to engage, even if fired upon."

Lieutenant Halevy was shocked. "Not engage?"

Sergei nodded. "If I had to guess, Celestial Being has just captured a high-value target, and we're being sent on the off chance we can find them."

Lieutenant Halevy asked "Sir, what are the chances of that?"

Sergei thinned his lips. "Not good," he admitted, before a member of the squad radioed in an unusual reading and went to check it out.

---

Once again, Saji and Marie stood in the hanger of the Ptolemy, watching as Ian prepared to open yet another mobile suit. In the many trials to date, Celestial Being had learned many helpful lessons.

For example, it was now customary for Haro-controlled repair drones to be the ones standing in front of the cockpit when it opened. In addition to being invulnerable to the bullets the more obstinate foes tended to shoot out at the first sign of light, their unusual appearance tended to disconcert A-LAW soldiers long enough to be easily disarmed by Ian. They had also learned other helpful tricks. Saji and Marie were now watching from behind a bullet-proof glass shield: hopefully the only other person to ever see that scar would be Louise, once she was rescued.

As they watched, Allelujah walked up, still in his piloting suit. Marie greeted him with an embrace and a quick embrace and a quicker peck, but Allelujah didn't let her go immediately afterwards.

"I've got a surprise for you!" he sang.

Marie looked confused, but not even a glance at Saji (conspicuously not paying attention) gave any clues. "What is it?" she asked.

"Call it a make-up present for all those birthdays I forgot," Allelujah said. "Even though I know it's sure to take some of your time from me, and it's going to be a serious responsibility to feed and take care of, I know you'll appreciate this more than anything else I could give to you."

Marie looked at Allelujah oddly. "Allelujah, did you get me a pet?"

"Something like that," he admitted with an alarmingly crazed grin. These days, the differences between Hallelujah and Allelujah were worryingly thin.

"Love," she began, "I don't think bringing a dog or cat onboard the ship is really-"

"Better than those," Allelujah interrupted, waving of such mundane pets as unworthy of mention. "You should thank Saji here for the idea; without him and his help, I never would have known where to look or been able to get it."

"Allelujah, start making sense," Marie warned, a hint of Soma Peries came through. "What did you get?"

"I got you," Allelujah said with a flourish and gesturing at the emerging Federation pilot with a theatric flair, "a Russian Bear."

---

"I'm sorry, but just how far do you intend to go with this rescue business of yours?"

Allelujah took another swig of beer and looked back at Saji. "As far as I can. Why? Do you think it's wrong?"

Saji shook his head. "No, not that. Capturing these soldiers alive is much better than just killing them on the battlefield, and I can understand the use of interrogating them. But don't you think you're going overboard, going out of your way to capture people who aren't fighting us directly?"

"Actually, they all have strategic significance. That's why Miss Sumeragi agreed to each and every plan. By taking the best of their best, we've been able to cripple the A-LAWS while simultaneously strengthening ourselves."

"Really?" asked Saji.

Allelujah took it as a challenge. "Name a one that hasn't."

"How about that other commander, that Colonel Mannequin?" Saji asked. "Didn't you just single her out because that captured pilot asked you to?"

"Counter point: she was a skilled enemy commander, and she had information for your friend Louise."

Saji winced at the reminder. "These 'Innovators' that Tieria mentioned, including the pilots."

"Well," explained Allelujah, "They are our ultimate enemy, and each one we can get out of the way is one less who might kill us. Any information they give up is good; just look at what Tieria got out of his clone."

Saji cast around for more. After a point, there had been too many to remember the names of, especially once the Ptolemy had been able to take prisoners in-mass.

"That design bureau engineers?"

"Working on another Memento Mori, and now we have that technology."

"The Earth Federation President?"

"Working with the Innovators, done to destabilize the Earth Federation and hinder their operations."

"The Princess of Azadistan?" Kataron had handed her over willingly, true, but…

"Setsuna and Sumeragi were convinced she could lend moral support to our cause."

"The Wild Bear of Russia? He wasn't even fighting you, or in the A-LAWS."

Allelujah paused, and then leaned forward. "Just between you and me," he whispered, "that one really was just for Marie."

Saji just sighed, and Allelujah put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm sure we'll find your friend one of these trips."

---

Billy Katagiri held no lingering affections for the woman in front of him. "What are you up to this time, Kujo?" he demanded. "It wasn't enough to use me once, and now you set out to kidnap me?"

It was exactly what she had expected, but that made it nor more pleasant. "It's good to see you too, Billy," she said with a tired smile.

Billy's reply taught everyone in the room a few new words, and made the more impressionable ones blush.

Sumeragi sighed. "Take him to Security, Ian," she requested, and Ian guided the Canadian engineer away. As Billy walked the halls, he took care to memorize the layout. His escort only laughed.

"You're not the first to do that," Ian remarked, before gesturing to a door. "Here you are, the permanent cell block. That means you won't be transferred out like most of you mooks. If you have a problem, be sure to enter it in the system, and one of us will come to assist you when we can. Oh," he added, "try and get along with everyone."

Billy was about to ask him what he meant, but then he looked into his new room. More people than he could count were assorted through the room: men and women of every race, country, and status were present. Some of them Billy even recognized; the President of the Earth Federation, who was currently in conversation with a number of people with unusual hair colors, and…

"Uncle Simpson?" Billy exclaimed, gaining the room's attention. Homer Katagiri winced at the nickname, but annoyance quickly gave way to family concern and once Billy hurried over the two traded quick embraces.

"So, I see they got you too" stated the formidable man. "They're farther along than I thought."

"They charged straight into the Solar Elevator," Billy said, indicating the space suit he was still wearing. "We were about to start a trial run for a new machine, but…"

One of the technicolor-haired people guessed. "But they stole the new machine, and took you along while they were at it? I am Healing Care," said the man, extending his hand.

Billy shook it and nodded. "They singled me out somehow. Their gundam chased me through the station, ripping it apart until I was trapped." More than one of the notable present nodded in sympathetic understanding.

Healing Care said "You're not the only one. Celestial Being's begun kidnapping anyone and everyone who's gotten their attention, and it's tearing the A-LAWS and Federation apart. If they caught you, they must have effectively decapitated the military and all the aces of the A-LAWS and Federation and are now moving on our technical experts."

"At least you're alive," said Homer. "Go look around, see for yourself. I have a feeling you'll be here for awhile, so you may as well introduce yourself."

And so Billy did. He saw politicians, major financiers of the Federation and A-LAWS. Officers and pilots a plenty: in one corner was a silver-haired officer, in another a red-haired pilot tried to get the attention of a European woman that Billy might have seen before. She was talking to a man Billy belatedly recognized as the famed Sergei Smirnov. But what shocked him most was the blond-haired man with a fearsome black mask who was leaning against the wall with a cup in his hands, listening in. As Billy approached, the man turned his head and lifted his cup in greeting.

"Yo," said Mr. Bushido.


	13. Less Than Human

00 S2 Drabble 13

Less Than Human

---

"_Ever notice how the farther you separate yourself from human nature, the more human you act?"_

---

"And that is my report," finished Revive Revival in Colonel Mannequin's office.

Having finished his formal report on the battle, Revive stood in front of her desk, though not with his usual confidence. Their exact relation was unusual; though Kati Mannequin was the strategic planner and commander of the entire taskforce, Revive held a Permit, putting him beyond the usual chain of command. Still, unlike others he didn't abuse the privilege, and was usually cooperative. That made it easier for her to converse with him.

"Quantamization? Is that what you called it? That is a most fearsome ability," Kati mused. "You described as resembling teleportation?"

"I didn't think it possible," Revive admitted. "I've never seen anything like it in action. One moment you think you've hit, and then… gone."

"Fearsome indeed," Kati said. "You were lucky to survive at all. I don't many pilots who could handle that sort of ability at the best of times."

Revive's eyes glared, though not in anger at her. "If I had known ahead of time, I could have countered it," he promised, though whether to her or himself she couldn't tell. "Next time I won't be taken down so easily."

"I'm sure you won't," Kati agreed. "Everyone can be surprised; it's learning and adapting and overcoming that makes us human."

---

"Oi! You're the new pilot, aren't you?"

Bring Stability turned to look at the new arrival. Most humans respected his space, and the few that hadn't had quickly given up after encountering is iron-strong stoicism. This one hadn't been one of them, and to date Bring Stability had counted that as a point of intelligence. Apparently he had been wrong; that made twice in a day.

"You're Stability, right? The pilot of the other new suit?"

Stability nodded. "And you are?" he asked, not familiar with the ship's cannon fodder.

The other man pulled himself up. "I am Patrick Colasour!" he exclaimed, as if Bring Stability should have recognized it.

He didn't, and the other red-head seemed to deflate. "Surely you've heard of me? Undefeated in mock battles, ace of the AEU?"

Bring Stability just stared at him.

"The Immortal Colasour?" Patrick tried one last time.

Bring only continued to stare, and Patrick bowed his head in apparent misery, but got over it quickly.

"Anyway, you just seemed a little down over here. This was your first fight against a Gundam, right?"

Bring said "I engaged them once right before I arrived here."

Patrick quickly counted in his head. "Second fight, huh? Well, clearly you didn't kill one of the buggers, but not a bad start. You'll learn the tricks to countering them soon enough."

Bring looked at the human who patronized him so. "What have you done?" he asked with an edge.

Too dumb to detect the tone, the human took it merely as bluntness. "Well, this was my ninth battle with Celestial Being," Patrick said good naturedly. "I've fought them since day one four years ago, and without any nifty escape pods like yours. It was a lot harder in the old days, but I still managed to shoot one down," he added, laughing at his own near deaths and missing Bring's look of shock and disbelief.

Ignoring Bring's personal space, Patrick put a friendly hand on his shoulder even as the other man bristled. "I just thought you looked upset at losing to them, and thought a bit of perspective might help. I've fought them more than anyone else alive, and I've only destroyed one gundam and stabbed another in the cockpit. Don't get so depressed if you didn't shoot them all down on your second encounter. After all," he said, unaware of how even he overshadowed Bring Stability's entire world view at that moment, "you're only human."

---

"It looks as if you were driven off. Has the two-drives' performance improved?"

She had seen him leaning against the wall, but had chosen to ignore him despite his License until he had spoken.

"Mr. Bushido," she acknowledged coolly.

"Healing Care," the masked man acknowledged his fellow License-holder. "Has the two-drive Gundam's base performance improved?" he asked again.

"So I am given to understand," she acknowledged. "I haven't fought it before. Why don't you find out for yourself?"

"I might yet," Mr. Bushido said, "if it lives up to the latest reports. It may yet prove to be a worthy opponent."

"You think you can take it on?" Healing asked skeptically. "When it took out ten suits and then dueled me evenly?"

"You make it sound as if I should care how many others fail," Mr. Bushido said.

Healing Care narrowed her eyes and punched the wall beside Mr. Bushido's head with enough force to break a weaker being's bones. "Someone fired and interfered, and the pilot took advantage of the distraction. The same would happen to you. You're only human," she warned.

Mr. Bushido only laughed in the face of the combat Innovators power. "I have fought the Gundams many times and met many distractions, but only once when I dueled without the restraint of command was I the one repulsed. I have surpassed the Ashura; when you have matched a mere human, perhaps then you will have merit worth listening to."

---

"I do hope you are in a better mood now, Ribbons."

The leader of the Innovators and master of Veda, Ribbons Almark, looked at the speaker, a nominal subordinate.

"Regene," he greeted with a frosty tone. "What brings this honor?"

Regene Regetta smirked as he walked down the staircase. "Didn't I say? I came to see your disposition. That was a fearsome temper you displayed. Even your pet mercenary was surprised."

Ribbons glared; Regene was overly fond of baiting and taunting the leader of the Innovators. "What is your point?" he asked with a warning tone.

Regene only chuckled at his bristling. "Only that you should learn to control that temper of yours when you are surprised. Wang Liu Mei is a valuable resource yet, and it would be a shame if your tantrum sends her running to Celestial Being."

"What can she do? She's just a human."

"Oh?" said Regene, raising an eyebrow. "Wasn't it a group of humans who destroyed the Memento Mori and shot down three of us?" he taunted.

"Stop speaking of things you have no perspective on," warned Ribbons. "You've been corrupted by your Other's associations."

Regene laughed again. "And what is your excuse? After all, there's only one species I know that flails out like that at allies when surprised. Why Ribbons, for a moment there I couldn't tell which of you was the dispassionate one with the long-term view. Your reaction was so typically-"

"Don't say it!" Ribbons roared, smashing a crystal glass off the table and onto the floor. Regene only looked him straighter in the eyes.

"Human."


	14. WWAD

The second one is a concept out of the Alternatives-verse idea. That would be in Cracked. Ali (and Graham) _so_ should have been Meisters.

---

00 S2 Drabble 14

---

WWAD?

_What would Ali do?_

---

**Ali would…**

…**Burn Them All**

"It looks like you've lost something as well, Setsuna," came the transmission from the red craft.

"Nena Trinity," Setsuna acknowledged, eyes narrowing at one who had perverted the ideal of Gundam. Seeing her red drive, he readied his blades. "Did you do this?" he asked, indicating the wreckage around them.

"Hardly," she waved off. "By the time I got here, this skirmish was long over. I couldn't even save your ship."

Setsuna's eyes widened. "Are they…?" he began.

"It looks as if _he_ has taken something from you too," she said, transmitting what she had observed. The 'he' was obvious; only one man piloted a red suit like that. Setsuna watched as the Arche Gundam tore into the Ptolemy, fangs biting deep and sword slicing through the armor with ease.

"They tried to reenter the atmosphere early to escape him," Nena said, "but once the bridge was hit…"

She shrugged. "No control. Very hot, but mercifully short. The Gundams might have survived, if they recovered enough particles from after the battle to deploy a re-entry shield. If not…"

She shrugged again. "At least they went out with a blaze of glory."

…**Drink It All In**

Stumbling out of the stasis pod, Ali tested his unsteady legs the only way he knew how: by putting them into action. Walking to the door was an exercise in pushing against the wall, but when it slid open he allowed himself to pretend it opened to fresh and pristine air.

Or maybe not pretend, as the cold mountain air quickly roused him. Staring into the beautiful mountain valley, grass and flowers blooming, Ali wondered what sort of shit had happened since he had been put in the healing capsule. Any moment now, he knew, some cute technicolor cartoon animal right out of Disney would come bounding up the meadow, waving a cute little tale from its butt.

"Ali awake! Ali awake!"

Or maybe not, and it would just be Haro. Out came one of the Haro-mechanics, placed in their repair drones with those nice, round edges (Did round edges make things cute by default? He wondered about that sometimes.), and the round ball was just looking at him, as if expecting something.

"Oh, you're finally awake?"

Down on the ground below, most certainly not (thank the God he never believed in) in a flowing dress to fit the scenery, was his fellow male Meister. Graham was dressed in the standard jacket, which was making Ali realize just how drafty it was in the hallway with just a hospital gown, and he carried a data pad, clearly taking in the repairs on the ship.

"How long have I…?" Ali trailed off meaningfully, taking it all in. Last thing he could remember was being about to jump into his Gundam, and then heat and a burst of pressure. Then he woke up.

"A few days. We're safe for the moment, and so we're taking our time. Rest and relaxation, that sort of thing."

Before Ali could speak up, someone else did. "Graham? Was that Ali I heard?"

The two men turned, and saw nearly half of ship's crew coming up the meadow. Specifically, the fairer half; by the looks of it, one bridge bunny with not enough to do had ended up dragging every other woman save the captain with her for a picnic. Now they were returning, holding wicker baskets and a checkered sheet he hadn't even known they had possessed, and were those _flowers_ he saw in the hair of the two female Meisters? Some women looked good with flowers, Ali would admit; generally those who looked meek and innocent and oh-so-ravishable. Not women who had killed more men and women than most people would ever remember the names of.

"Ah, hey," the blonde replied back. "Yeah, he just woke up. I'm bringing him up to speed. How did female bonding time go?"

Attempting to reconcile just how this could come to be, Ali made a wise and sensible decision for anyone confronted with such an unexpected and confusing situation.

"Screw this, I'm getting a beer."

…**Hunt Him Down**

"You can run and dodge as long as you want, but I'm not going to let you go!" howled the Middle Eastern mercenary, shooting at the enemy who insisted on only dodging and guarding his shots.

They flew like that for miles. Over the crater left by the Memento Mori, over mountains and desert, even over what Ali recognized as Azadistan.

When the other Gundam began to land beside a minaret, Ali didn't care why. He simply shot his prey then and there, and who cared about the collateral damage?

…**Kill Without Pause**

When the GN particles reached their zenith, it happened again. Ali could sense, could hear the song as if it were being sung beside him. Part of him, a part buried and forgotten long long ago before he had hardened and b, recognized it.

It was a child's song, almost a hymn. Memory gripped him; memories of being poor and going to worship, of moments of carefree joy and playing with others. A time when each day hadn't been spent figuring who was going to steal his food, and who he might steal from instead. A time when, if only so briefly, war had been something to be hated and forgotten while singing in harmony with the other children.

But then he laughed. "What's this? Are you trying to sing me to death?" he asked even as he slammed the blade into the cockpit.


	15. Destiny

And let it be known that this is credited entirely to the one known and feared as ShadowCell, for whom I gave four medium/well-done dogs in exchange for the rights to use his idea. I just… tinkered with it a little bit. Remember kids, overdosing on painkillers is not a good idea. And don't drive when drunk.

I would have done more, but I wasn't inspired and all I could think of was a number of reasons Saji could have been accosted by the male-half of the CB crew. Lockon suspecting Saji of being the traitor and giving the A-LAWS information (again), Allelujah suspecting Saji of being too close to Marie, Ian 'warning' Saji of getting too friendly with his daughter, Tieria kicking the sleeping Saji for the hell of it…

Ah, Saji. Such a lovable punching bag. Every time I see the season two ending, I expect Louise to pull out a gun and shoot him.

---

Gundam 00 S2 Drabble 15

Destiny

---

_You were meant for me. Perhaps as punishment._

---

His suit glowed red, a torrent of particles coming from its fake drives. "At last, Gundam, we can fulfill our destiny with this battle. Prepare yourself, and with eyes only for me! YAAAAAA--"

Whatever Mr. Bushido had expected to hear, a shout of pain at the first exchange of blows wasn't it.

"Fucking headache! Not now!" cussed the young man over the still-open comlink.

"…what?" asked Mr. Bushido, taken aback and pausing his assault.

"Yeah, migraine. Real bad, too much painkiller drug and it's screwing with my head. Oh it fuckin' _hurts_. Oh I'd worship god again if I thought it would make it go away." There was a short pause, and then, "Hey, you got aspirin by any chance?"

"Um… well, no. But our mutual destiny--" Mr. Bushido tried, taken aback.

"Oh, that. Well." Another pause. "I guess we can fight and get this over with if you really want to…" the younger man trailed off with a more empathetic curse. "Oh damn it hurts. Getting shot in the arm sucks, but this is only worse. The pain. I need more painkiller to make it stop."

Mr. Bushido heard the awkward fumbling in the other cockpit. "Aren't too many painkillers what brought the headache? Are you sure you should take more?" he tried to warn, but the other pilot ignored him in his search for relief. Mr. Bushido heard the pop-hiss of the syringe being used, and his destined rival gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh, that's much better… wait, now I'm seeing lights. Exia? Is that you? Have you come to take me away?" he rambled.

Mr. Bushido looked at his fated rival with disdain. "…tch! It would be meaningless to fight an enemy as weakened as you are. There would be no honor in the victory!"

"Wait," said the other pilot drunkenly from so many anesthesias "does this mean we're okay for setting this off? If so, I'm gonna go swing by my ship and pick up some Tylenol. You cool with that?" All that would be needed to complete the total change of character would be a drunken hiccup at the end.

The man known as Mr. Bushido sighed. "Yeah, whatever. Our fated match will have to wait until next time. Go on."

"You're a pretty cool dude when you don't have a rod shoved up your ass," his rival said as he wobbled the two-drive suit onto a new course. "Until next time!"

"Isn't your ship in the other direction?" Mr. Bushido asked as the two-drive sped south.

"I knew that!"


	16. Fortune

I'm really proud of this one; this is one of those fics that make me wish I posted all these pieces at FFN by themselves, so they could get their proper attention rather than be buried deep in the Anthology. It should be clear why this took a week to make. (Three days, actually, but it was a busy week.)

Certainly not an episode-specific drabble, but well worth the read. This actually is part of a concept-verse I've toyed with starting after I finish my current projects, but also stands alone. It also opens another idea I've considered toying with: how might S2 Saji enter in a relationship with anyone BUT Louise? But those are thoughts for another drabble. This is now.

---

00 S2 Drabble 16

Fortune

---

_They call you Lady Luck.  
But there is room for doubt  
At times you have a very unladylike way of running out  
You're this a date with me  
The pickings have been lush  
And yet before this evening is over you might give me the brush  
You might forget your manners  
You might refuse to stay and So the best that I can to is pray._

_Luck be a lady tonight  
Luck be a lady tonight  
Luck if you've ever been a lady to begin with  
Luck be a lady tonight._

-Guys and Dolls

---

"Step right up! Step right up! Step right up and try your luck! Who's going to be the grand prize winner? Even if it's not you, everyone is a winner in our give away!"

More suited for a carnie than a store manager, the contest was having its desired effect as a small crowd gathered outside the open-air restaurant. True, most of the prizes were little more than baubles; costume jewelry, coupons for a free meal, and so on. But free was free, and there was always that one-in-a-million chance that you, too, could win a trip to a hot spring resort or whatever the first prize might be…

"Saji, let's go try!" demanded a blond girl, pulling a meek young man beside her.

"Louise," he begged, rolling his strained shoulder, "you know you aren't going to win anything good from these." Already tired from a long afternoon's shopping, he prayed to the gods of logic and reason that she would be reasonable.

"You don't know that!" retorted the modern European girl, and she soon pushed him up to the front for the event.

"Ready to test your luck, young man?" greeted the manager, grinning at the sight of the young couple.

Saji laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "I guess…" he conceded, much to his girlfriend's disdain.

"Of course we are!" she said, stepping up to the lotto machine without fear. "Come on, Saji!" she commanded, and together they both spun the handle.

When the machine stopped, a gasp went up from those who could see. Not one of the common blue or green beads, nothing less than a white pearl rolled out of the machine. Bells and whistles rang, and applause soon followed.

"Congratulations!" cried the manager. "You've both won the Grand Prize, a shopping extravaganza of your choice!" Citing of the hundreds of Union dollars it was worth, the exact details went over Saji Crossroad's head as he tried to reconcile with reality.

"Louise! We did it! We won!" he exclaimed, ecstatic. Even split between them, that sort of money… for a pair of college students, it could cover so much.

"Of course we did," Louise retorted, but she grabbed his arm and was grinning too.

"You can thank me for all this, you know. I'm your luck."

---

"Saji! Louise!"

Kinue's voice was clear even over the din of reporters trying to get interviews with the returning survivors. Despite their harrowing story, or maybe because they recognized her and made way, Kinue quickly came up to them.

"Saji, I'm so glad you're safe!" she said, embracing her last family member with relief. Behind them, a fellow JNN camera man filmed the reunion for the world to see. Looking over Saji's shoulder, Kinue looked at Louise. "You too, Louise," she added. "When I say both of your names on list…"

Saji awkwardly freed himself, uncomfortable at having worried his normally composed sister. "We were fine the whole time," he reassured. "No one was hurt, there were more than enough space suits, and everyone came back alive. That's all that matters, right?"

"Saji was very brave," Louise chimed in loyally. "He was always calm, even when we heard about our drifting. When others were panicking, he was calm and making sure everyone was safely getting into their space suits and into the safe gravity blocks. It would have been very scary without his presence," she admitted.

Kinue took a step back to look at her normally meek brother. "Is that true, Saji?" she asked, slightly skeptical at a tale of his bravery at a time she had been terrified on his behalf.

But Saji was blushing slightly, modest as always. "Yeah," he admitted. "But I really have to thank the League soldiers who saved us: they were calm and didn't show any fear when they talked to us, and we owe them our lives."

"And that Celestial Being pilot," added Louise. "They were the ones to save us, right? That's what we heard."

Kinue nodded. "They did. It was a welcome surprise to everyone."

"Who would have thought they would do that, though?" asked Saji. "What were the odds of that?"

"Nothing I would bet on," said Kinue, before stopping. "I take that back: if it's your life on the line, Saji, I would gladly bet on Celestial Being. I really am glad you're back safe, Saji," she said, before adding "and you too, Louise."

---

"Geeze Saji, I can't believe you're being so miserly with you winnings!" Louise complained, though her tone made it clear that she was only teasing him. "You had to wait until we got back from the Orbital Elevator to go shopping, and you bought yourself, what, a new pair of shoes?"

Instead of standing up for himself and challenging her, Saji only laughed at himself. "I'm not like you, Louise," he said. "I only need one pair of shoes outside of work and nice occasions, right?" Unsaid were what they both knew were the real reasons: that the money had been quickly tucked away into his savings, to carry him that much farther should disaster strike his sister and he was left to support them both. It was an uncomfortable truth between them: his continued well being depended on him keeping his scholarship, and on his sister supporting them both. She never had to worry about such things, and likely never would.

"No!" Louise answered, running slightly ahead and turning to face him. "You need nice things for a change of pace, and to make good impressions. Saji, I am going to teach you that."

"And how do you intend to do that, _sensei_?" he asked, jokingly giving her the honorific of teacher.

"Isn't it obvious? First we'll shop, and then we'll shop some, and then we'll shop some more! And to show you how to get the best sales, I'll prove it by paying myself!" she declared, though he would certainly try to sidestep her thoughtfulness when the time came.

Saji mimed an aching shoulder. "I don't know if I could carry that many bags," he moaned, and Louise laughed.

"You better," she warned, putting on an arrogant pose. "You should count your lucky stars that I'm here to teach you the error of your ways. What would happen to you if I weren't around?"

Saji opened his mouth to speak, but that was the moment the bus exploded.

---

"Well Mama? What do you think?" Being the last evening of her mother's visit, Louise was anxious to see her mother off with a good impression.

"It was delicious, Louise," said the matron of the Halevy family. "Saji, you are truly an exceptional cook," she said, addressing the young man at the table without a hint of her initial hostility. Only favor was in her tone.

"Thank you, Mrs. Halevy," he said, grateful for the change in tone. Beside him, Louise puffed in pride at the hard-won acceptance, but also wanted to confirm beyond any doubt.

"Then Saji…?" she prompted her mother.

"Is an admirable young man, and I'm glad you've found someone like him," the matron of the Halevy family ruled, hiding a smile at her daughter's excitement. "I have no problems with you staying in Japan with him, even in times like these. One day he might even make a fine addition to our family."

Saji was unsettled by the thought of future relations, but Louise was too caught up in her mother's approval to care.

"See Saji?" she exclaimed, nearly squealing in glee and hugging him. "I told you that you just needed to make a good impression. Wasn't shopping for new clothes worth it?"

While Saji tried to fend off Louise's arms, the older Halevy raised a bemused eyebrow. "Oh, so you felt you had to go out of your way to make a good impression?" she teased her daughter. "Is there something about Saji you don't want me to know?"

Louise was entirely unrepentant. "Just a new pair of clothes," she claimed. "I had to drag him to go shopping for something nice to wear. But it worked, didn't it?" she asked.

Louise's mother gave Saji a critical eye, hard enough that he had to fight the urge to flinch. "Indeed you did," Mrs. Halevy said. "It is wonderful attire. Did you pick it out with the wedding in mind?"

"Wedding?!" yelped Saji and Louise together, but with different amounts of shock and fear.

"Louise, don't tell me you forgot that your cousin is getting married?" asked Madame Halevy. "Didn't you already tell me you had picked out a dress for her wedding?"

"Oh, that," Louise remembered, and Saji breathed out a sigh of relaxation. "I had thought I would go alone, and didn't think it would be appreciated if I brought Saji…" she admitted. "I mean, you didn't even know about him a week ago."

"Nonsense," said Madame Halevy. "Saji is more than welcome to attend, and would be warmly welcomed, I promise. It's during your school break, so you both should be able to make it, right?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Louise, both to answer the question and accept the invitation. "Isn't that right, Saji?" Louise asked without any chance of refusal. "Mama really does like you! Do you know how lucky you were to be invited to the wedding?"

---

"Are you not having a good time, Saji? Are you getting along with everyone? " Louise asked him a few months later, after finding him away from the wedding crowds. She sounded concerned: introducing the boyfriend meant opinions on both sides, and though many had taken to the Japanese male it was unclear what he thought.

"No one has said anything but good things about you," she promised him. Teasing things, true, but Madame Halevy had spread the good word about him in advance.

"It's not that," Saji denied, putting a rest to her unspoken fears. "I just wanted a breath of fresh air. You're family is so big and vibrant, and everyone is so energetic, but it's a bit overwhelming to me," said the young man who's family was limited to a single sister for most of his life.

"You should get used to it," ordered Louise with a mock-frown. "You may be seeing them again in the future, right?" she asked, leaving open the question of just what would happen in the future. Normally he ran away from such questions.

"I might," he admitted, taking Louise by surprise. "I've been thinking about it, and…" he trailed, and it was clear he had been out here to organize his thoughts as well. "When I think about you, I-" he trailed again, and then sighed. "I thought I could come out and say it. Let me just show you instead," he said, fumbling with his hands in his coat pocket. Much of the fumbling must have been from nerves: a small box jumped from his grip and fell on ground as he removed his hand from the pocket, and he knelt down to pick it up.

"When I think of you, I think of us," Saji admitted, eyes on the ground and blushing up a storm, and from his position he opened up the box. Inside were two gold rings, the same golden rings she had once demanded he buy and the same ones he had denied he could afford. Wordlessly she took one, twisting it over in her fingers.

"I saved up a long time for it," Saji admitted, looking at her now. "I didn't think I would be able to get it in time, but then I remembered the contest, and how it was your luck that won it, and I knew I had to. I guess you could say it's because of your luck I can do this. Louise, I-" Yet he still couldn't say it, but Louise placed a finger on his lips before meaningfully put the ring on her left hand.

"I know, Saji," she said with a beautiful smile, even as though he hadn't finished. Taking the moment, she softly slid the other ring onto his left hand.

Seing her put the ring on gave him the courage to say it, to really say it. "Louise, I l-"

But he was too late as she was already pulling him up by his wrist, with the ring pressing softly into his arm. "Saji, we have to show my Mom and Dad!" she declared. "I might not be the luckiest woman today, but I am the second luckiest! Come on!" she said, beginning to drag him to show the ring to her parents.

But Saji didn't follow, resisting her pull, and she turned around. "Saji?" she asked questioningly, but he wasn't looking at her. He was staring into the sky, his attention taken from her by what he saw there.

"Gundam…" he whispered, and Louise forgot her momentary pang of jealousy when she saw them to. They were impressive, the three of them that were silently approaching. One, a dark red, particularly grabbed their attention.

"What are they doing here?" she heard someone ask. "Isn't that one of the new ones?" No one knew, and no one answered. Silence smothered as the three machines approached ever closer in silence.

"Saji…" Louise said, unnerved by the approach. Stepping closer to him, she took his hand just before she saw movement from the machine. A flash of red was all the warning she had before the world behind them exploded. The force of the explosion sent them tumbling over each other, ripping her skirt and tearing a gash in his sleeve. But that was nothing compared to what had happened to the people at the epicenter of the blast.

"Louise? Are you alright?" Saji asked, but he sounded so far away. If the Gundam had seduced his attention away from her, the carnage took hers by force; scraps of clothes and pieces of people were all that remained of the crowd that had held her family.

"Mama… Papa…" she stammered, unable to look away from the crater that stood where a crowd of living people had been moments before. "Mama! Papa!" she cried again, ignoring Saji's questions and beginning to run towards where they had been. She didn't look anywhere else, didn't see Saji's alarm or a second flash of red.

"Louise!"

There was a push, a fall, and the world roared and went black.

---

What stood out to her when she awoke was the smell of antiseptics. Her first clear view was of the sterilized room and inhumanly clean window. Her first coherent thought was the one she had left off on, of needing to run forward and reach her parents.

Her second impressions were no less clear. The texture of the hospital gown, the sight of the gold ring still on her left hand, and of wondering when her mother would stroll inside her room, telling her that she had had a hard slip during the party and that it was alright, everyone was safe and Saji was worrying himself sick about her…

And that was what made Saji the third focus of her attention when she woke up. "Saji!" she exclaimed, partially to herself and partially in hope someone would tell her what had become of him. But no one did: she was alone in the room, and no doctor or nurse hurried in to answer her questions. Left to herself, she set out to find her own answers.

Standing on her own two legs was the first challenge. Walking to the door was the next. But so long as she was careful she wouldn't fall, and so she made her way down the quiet hallways, looking into the rooms and listening for any other soul. And that was how she found him, sitting in bed and looking out the window.

"Saji?" she called, leaning against the door.

He turned at his name, a small smile on his lips, and she stumbled into the room with relief. "You're safe! Saji, I'm so glad you're safe. When I woke up after the attack…" she couldn't go on, choking up, and so she said instead, "I'm just glad you're still here."

"What attack?"

"What?" she asked, unable to believe her ears.

"Was I hurt in an attack?" Saji asked again. "The Doctors wouldn't tell me what had happened. Were you there? Was anyone else hurt?" He was perfectly polite and concerned.

"Saji, you don't remember?" she asked, terrified at the prospect.

"I'm afraid so," he admitted, apologetic.

Remembering stories she half-remembered from long ago, she looked around for something, anything, to jar his memory. The only glint in the room was from her own left hand, and she desperately took off her ring to show him.

"Saji, look at this," she ordered while holding her open palm for him to see, trying to fight back the fear hiding underneath her tone. "Can you remember this?"

He looked hard at it, but a sparkle or recognition sent her hope soaring. "I…" he murmured, thinking intently. "Wait!" he said, and turned to pick something on the other table. "Got it!" he said, holding the ring's mate.

"That's it," she said, relieved and hope soaring. But then she felt him softly place the ring on her palm.

"I knew the Doctor couldn't have been right when he said it was mine," Saji said. "It looked well beyond my means, and I've never worn jewelry in my life. It's yours, right? You can have it back," he said, leaving the valuable piece of gold in her hand with all the reluctance of one disposing of a lump of scrap metal.

"Besides," he continued, "it's not like I could wear it now anyway," he said, pulling out his other arm from the hospital jacket and showing her the stump where his hand had been, looking uncomfortable when she gasped in horror.

Then he paused, and asked the final damning question.

"I'm sorry to ask this, but… who are you?"

---

"Go away and leave him alone! Haven't you done enough?"

"Wh-what?"

Kinue Crossroad was rarely one to yell. Louise Halevy was rarely one to stutter and be so vulnerable. Exceptions were made: high emotions and exhaustion made the confrontation worse than it might have been.

"You're always dragging him into danger, always! He never would have been in danger if it weren't for you!"

"That's not true! I never intended-" Louise tried to defend, but Kinue didn't let up, her experience as a reporter letting her to control the flow of the conversation.

"I don't care what you intended!" she blocked, the closest she would ever come to admitting that she was beyond reason at the moment. "Saji never would have been hurt if you hadn't shown up and started dragging him into danger!"

"I-!" Louise tried to defend, but the accusation shook her. Eyes wide, she could only look back into the past as Kinue continued her vicious assault.

_"Do you know how lucky you were to be invited to the wedding?"_

"The bus bomb, the gravity block. This. Saji never would have been in those places if you hadn't shown up and dragged him away to places he didn't have to go! Why couldn't you have let him live a quiet life, safe and out of the trouble you love so much?" she demanded. Kinue had always wanted Saji to have a quiet and boring life, having learned from her Father's death just why interesting times was a Chinese curse.

_"You should count your lucky stars that I'm here to teach you the error of your ways. What would happen to you if I weren't around?"_

"You're a danger to him. Don't try to deny it. It's pushing and demanding today, but what will it be in five years? One misunderstanding, one jumped conclusion, and you'd probably try and kill him for some imagined sin. At least Celestial Being has had the courtesy to save his life and punish those responsible. Did you know that? The original Gundams fought the new three over America yesterday when they were butchering more innocents. They have the decency to help Saji. What have you ever done for him?" she demanded, unaware of her own role in that change of events. A hurried explanation to the next-door neighbor as she rushed out to the airport, not having thought twice of dropping her investigation after hearing of her brother's state.

_"Nothing I would bet on," said Kinue, before stopping. "I take that back: if it's your life on the line, Saji, I would gladly bet on Celestial Being."_

"Please," Kinue said, dropping her hostility and looking as tired as she was, "just go. Saji doesn't remember you, and it would be better for everyone if you don't distract him trying to force him to remember things he'd rather not. You saw how he reacted to the image of the UN suits; he doesn't need any mental shocks. Let him graduate and go into space in peace. I'm grateful for your generosity in covering his prosthetic, but… go, and don't come back. Maybe if you prove you can protect him and not just put him in danger, I might reconsider. Until then..."

_"You can thank me for all this, you know. I'm your luck."_

Louise didn't say anything. She didn't deny, she didn't fight back, she only took in both Kinue's words and memories of the past. Stifling a horrified sob, the blonde girl turned and ran, barely looking as to where she was running to. Kinue watched her run away, and quietly closed the apartment door, as if there hadn't been yelling only a minute ago.

"Sis? Who was that? Was it that blond girl again?" asked Saji when she walked back into their living room.

"Saji! What are you doing out of your room?" she asked, chiding him for breaking his doctor-ordered bed rest. "You should be studying for your make-up exams. The University went out of its way to give you a chance to get credit for your classes and gradutate."

"I needed to get a drink," he said, gesturing to the glass he held in his mechanical hand. It was shaking, a sign that the attachment still hadn't taken to the arm. "I heard you talking to someone, and then yelling…"

"It doesn't matter," Kinue lied. "I don't think they'll be coming back. Just forget about it; it would be bad luck to dwell on it."

---

"Gundam!" Louise roared, shooting her lance at the damaged relic of Celestial Being. It evaded, but the constant assault of the three machines was clearly leaving the pilot no way to counterattack.

"Very good, Halevy!" Captain Zinin exclaimed, taking another swipe at the Gundam. "Circle around and flank it!" he commanded, pleased at the chance to wipe out a stain of the last five years once and for all.

Another barrage of beams were fired, but again missed their intended target. Instead they overshot, flying into the side of Proud Colony. The explosion sent air and debris flying into space.

That should have been the end of it; nothing more, nothing less. But the Gundam promptly broke contact with Zinin, leaving itself open to a slice as it raced towards the colony side. Only Zinin's surprise kept him from taking the opening.

"Warrant Officer, intercept it!" he ordered, and Louise flew into the debris cloud to wait and surprise the Gundam. And that was when she saw it: a single space suit mixed with the debris, thrown into space by the explosion.

"Is that what it's trying to get to?" she wondered, zooming in on the figure just as it rotated to face her. The GN-X III's cameras were more than good enough to catch a glimpse of brown hair and narrow Japanese eyes.

"Saji…?" Louise questioned, not believing her eyes. "Saji!"

"Warrant!" Zinin shouted. "What is it?"

"It's Saji!" Louise responded, not caring that Zinin wouldn't understand. "I know him! The Gundam is going after him! Buy me some time!"

"What?" Zinin asked even as he put another barrage of beams between the Gundam and its target, but Louise paid him no mind. Instead she pushed her machine into relative velocity with the slowly spinning body, moving in closer with hand extended. From the camera, she could see her own reflection in the man's suit: another dark red machine, blood red particles spewing from its back as it reached out to grab him. Despite the distance, she could see the effects of the mental shock on him; frantic convulsions, twists, anything to put more distance between him and the monster in front of him. Even when the machine's claws gripped him firmly he didn't stop, trying to wiggle and push his way out of its grip. Louise could see the insulation of the suit tear, threatening to compromise its integrity.

"I'm securing him!" she reported, opening her cockpit even as Zinin demanded an explanation. Stepping out from her seat, she could see Saji, only a (mobile suit's) arm's length away from her. "Saji, stop struggling! It's me!"

For a moment, he did. For a moment they stood there, looking at each other over an arm's distance. She looked at the man she had promised she would protect, for whom she had joined and funded the A-LAWS in order to make the world safer for. For a moment, she had succeeded; he was safe in her custody. Regardless of why he was at Proud in the first place, it wouldn't matter. For all the money she had invested in A-LAWS, she had never asked anything of Ribbons Almark except for the chance to fight Celestial Being as a regular soldier, a fact which surely confused and worried him. Well, he would worry no more. All she had to do was ask, and he would nod and consent and smile that he had finally figured out why she was just a normal human after all. Whatever Saji had done would be forgiven and quietly forgotten, and he would be protected from falling into the wrong crowd again. He would realize that there were people fighting for him and against those who had hurt him. She would show him herself.

But only for a moment. Then he resumed trying to escape the claws that grasped him, threatening himself again.

"Halevy!" yelled Zinin over the comlink, warning replacing anger and making her glance up. The Gundam, glowing an otherworldly red, raced at them, dancing between the beams that her squad mates were futilely throwing up between it and her. Louise threw herself back into the cockpit, intending to move Saji to safety, but it was too late even before she hit the seat. The Gundam slashed its blade down on her suit's arm, taking it clean off and freeing her captive in the process. Following through, it thrust what remained of the GN blade into the Jinx III, missing the cockpit but tearing out the GN-drive in an effort that shattered the aged blade. Immobile without that engine, Louise could only watch the Gundam before her, powerless to stop it.

"Warrant Officer!" he other squad mate yelled, but they remained too far to save her from the tender mercies of the Gundam.

But it didn't attack, tearing into her suit with the lethality it had torn into armies years ago. Instead it flew backwards, protectively putting its arms around Saji, one hand gently guiding the man towards itself. Louise could only watch as the cockpit opened, could only yell in impotent emotion as the enemy pilot, visor dark, stepped out and offered a hand to the male Crossroad. She could only cry as she saw Saji accept that hand, struggling with his fear but letting himself be drawn into another suit that glowed red.

It hurt to see that. She barely registered the arrival of the new Gundam, barely cared as it fought off her two comrades and forced them to retreat. All she could focus on was the Gundam that had stolen away Saji from her once again. She only came to when her squad mates, both of them damaged but still alive, grabbed her ruined suit and made their retreat.

"We can't run!" she protested. "We have to stop them! We can't let them get away!"

"Not today, Warrant," Captain Zinin said. "You're lucky enough to still be alive after that stunt. Don't push it. Learn to be happy with what you do have, not with the one that got away."


	17. Catch 22

All I'll say about this one is that I might write a second part.

---

00 S2 Drabble 17

Catch-22

---

_'Cause you are damned if you do,  
damned if you don't;  
damned if you will,  
damned if you won't._

-'Damned if I Do', Alice Cooper

---

The slap was fast and brutal, nothing restraining the gloved hand.

"How _dare_ you," he wife snarled. "How _dare_ you?! Both of you!"

"Holly!" exclaimed Hercules, moving to support his friend. "He only tried to save-"

"And a whole lot of good that did!" she yelled, turning on the family friend. "Hundreds of engineers and their families, dead! More men and women than were in my detachment! You left them to die, you let the elevator's development by a decade at least, and for what? My life?"

"Holly," tried to reason Hercules, but Sergei held up a hand, stopping him.

"I made my decision, Holly," the Wild Bear of Russia said, meeting the eyes of the woman he had sworn to love and protect through sickness and health. "I was responsible. I know. But I stand by my decision to divert the men to rescue your detachment. It was my decision to make, and I did what I thought was best."

"You thought wrong," she spat, still furious. "What would you have done if they had destroyed the Pillar?" she demanded. "What would you be saying then, Sergei?"

"There was no danger to the Pillar," Sergei reminded her, "we made sure of it. Yes, many died. But we did win."

"That isn't the point!" she yelled. "A soldier's job is to protect the citizens and the country, and you did neither. You stood by and let the enemy wreck out nation's hopes for a better world, stood by while those we were charged to protect were killed, just to relieve me! I don't need coddling, Sergei!"

"You are my wife!" Sergei responded, his normal reserve beginning to fall even as Hercules looked desperately between the two. "You are a mother!"

"I am a soldier, sworn to protect my nation and my people" she reminded, "and that comes first."

"You are my wife!" Sergei roared, sounding like his reputation.

"Not for much longer," Holly informed him, ice water in her veins. "The papers will arrive shortly."

The revelation shattered the atmosphere. Sergei stumbled backwards, desperately trying to find stability. Hercules was all he had to support him.

"Holly…" Sergei trailed, shell-shocked. "Why?"

"I did not marry a coward who put his personal attachments over those of his countrymen and the men and women he swore to protect," she informed him. "I could never live with a man like that. I thought you understood that when we married. I'm leaving this household."

"Holly, think this through!" Hercules begged, even as Sergei collapsed onto a chair. "What about Andrei?"

"Andrei will come with-" she began, but her head was already turning as the sound of the partially opened door slamming and footsteps racing away could be heard. A glimpse of brown hair and wide eyes was all that was caught, but that was all that was needed for recognition.

"Andrei!" Holly and Hercules gasped, though Sergei was still too shocked to follow suit. Holly's cold fury was replaced with pale dread as the implications became obvious.

"Andrei, wait!" she called, desperately running to the door and fumbling with the nob in her haste to get it open. Even as she opened it, the sound of the front door being opened could be heard, the sounds of heavy traffic entering even this room.

Holly dashed after the boy without a second thought. Hercules paused, looking back to his still unresponsive friend briefly before following. Sergei remained where he was, and only came to at the sound of screeching rubber and Holly's horrified scream.

---


	18. Lessons

Sorta kinda in the spirit of Valentines Day? This was originally supposed to be both this and a bit about Soma and Saji connecting over the Colonel's memory, but that one fell through.

Anyway, Innovator love. Yays.

---

00 S2 Drabble 18

Lessons

---

_Teach me, then. I would be a very… dedicated student._

---

"Is she useful?" was the most common question his fellow Innovators had asked. All of them had, actually, for their own reasons: Ribbons wanted to know whether he might need to step in and arrange a more competent commander, Bring Stability had been wondered of her general ability, and Regene had merely been himself and been curious.

But only Healing Care, in her general way, had made a tease out of it. "For a human?" she had repeated his answer, openly dubious. "Nothing more? Not as a woman?" she teased, running a suggestive finger up her own uniform and accenting her curves. "If you say yes, I might just get jealous."

Revive had sharply turned his head, refusing to address such nonsense, but Healing had only laughed. Maybe it was because she was a female type, or maybe the other male Innovators had merely been ignorant in the relevant field of knowledge, but through their quantum brainwaves she knew she had hit close to the mark. Just not as she thought. Colonel Mannequin was indeed useful for a human, and as a woman. Revive had learned many things from Colonel Mannequin. Love… was not quite one of them.

---

It had started, as with most things, with modest beginnings. In his case, his first battle against Celestial Being. Even ending as it had, with Celestial Being's escape into space, it had been a marvelous display of leadership on both sides. Celesital Being had easily outsmarted Colonel Lindt, as Revive had expected, but he had not expected Colonel Mannequin's masterful predictions, to the extent of placing him precisely where he was needed to divert the Celestial Being ship into the waiting space force. Only their failure in the face of the two-drive had prevented a masterful clean sweep of Celestial Being.

And so he had taken the moment to repose himself in his cockpit, reflecting both on the general weakness of the A-LAW general troops and on Colonel Mannequin's unexpected skill. Far above the Earth, and only slightly below the edge of space, for a moment he was above the humans and their petty concerns and conflicts, like a true Innovator should be.

And then his video com-link pinged, and soon Colonel Mannequin's face graced his screen. "A pity despite the flawless forecast, Colonel," the License holder said in greeting.

"Thank you. Your performance was exceptional as well," the European officer returned the compliment.

Revive shrugged his shoulders. "Lady Luck and her whims, I suppose," he said. "How can I help you?" he asked, getting to the heart of her call.

"I was wondering what your recovery plans are now, now that your pick up has been destroyed?" she asked, referring to the Federation cruiser that Celestial Being had kindly destroyed before it could descend low enough into the atmosphere to recover Revive.

Revive check his suits status and said, "I have more than enough particles remaining to land anywhere I need to," he said. "I could even make it to the Tower."

"No need to go that far unless you want to," Mannequin said. "If you descend, you can return to the carrier."

"Are you sure you have the space?" Revive asked. "Won't the damaged machines take more space?"

"We will make room if we need to," Mannequin said. "Besides, with Mr. Bushido's leave of absence we have that much more room onboard." Her tone made it clear what she thought of the other License-holder's actions, even if there hadn't been that much he could have done in the battle.

Revive laughed at the tone. "If you insist," he said. "Thank you for the courtesy, Colonel."

She waved off his thanks as if they were pointless. "You did your part for me," she said. "It is in my nature to return the favor to those under me. Call it my commitment, Captain."

When Revive come down, there was indeed space on the carrier deck to land on. Stepping out of his suit, he took care to remember to salute the bridge. He fancied he saw the gesture returned, and that was the day he first learned respect on a personal level.

---

Moving to space had been a pleasure in itself. Unlike some of his fellow Innovators, Revive had no real preference between the effects of space or gravity, but even he enjoyed the experience of transition between the two.

If the Colonel had such whimsies, she hid it beyond the reach of his quantum brain waves. As the train decelerated in approach to the station and entered weightlessness, she merely grunted in annoyance as her data pad floated from her grasp. Though her red-haired companion had made a grab for it, he merely bumbled the attempt and sent it spinning even farther. With effortless ease, Revive grabbed it and leaned forward to hand it back to her.

"Thank you, Captain Revival," she had said, ignoring the theatrical despair of the man beside her.

"Call me Revive, please," Captain Revival said. "I don't stand on ceremony."

"Spoken like a true License holder," Colonel Mannequin noted without hostility, declining the liberty to use his name. "You must be a natural at weightlessness."

"It's what I was made for," Revive said easily, though the two humans certainly wouldn't grasp the admission. "I've spent a good deal of time in space. I'm well suited for the environment."

"Are you? That's good to hear," she said. "I'll be sure to make you prove those words aren't idle boasts," she said. Revive knew she was doing what any commander would do, challenging a soldier's pride to bring out their full potential.

It was charming to a human try and manipulate him so. "I will try to meet your expectations then," he said, meeting her eyes, and he saw the she knew that he knew exactly what she was trying to do.

The third wheel was too stupid to catch the meaning of what was going on between them. "I'll prove myself as well, Colonel! Just give me the chance!" he crowed, and Revive felt a small spike of annoyance when the Colonel turned her attention to smoothing the ruffled feathers of red hair.

Only later did he understand that that infantile surge of annoyance was his first taste of the emotion that humans called… jealously.

---

Returning to the ship in disgrace had been nearly unbearable, on many levels. There was disappointment that Celestial Being had gotten away, that his own Other remained with them. There was the knowledge that a mere human had defeated him. There was the shame in returning to the ship like any of the other damaged mobile suits, saved only by his escape pod. There were so many more, so no one should be surprised that his prideful words to the Colonel was one of the later reasons for being upset.

Even so, he had cause to remember them as he docked inside the A-LAWS cruiser. On the catwalks was Colonel Mannequin, watching him as he docked. Exiting his escape pod, he drifted towards where she watched over the entire hanger bay.

"Come to make me eat my words?" he asked a bit more bluntly than he intended, still bitter at his loss.

Kati Mannequin all but laughed in his face. "I have more important priorities than that," she said, pitiless. "I've been waiting for you. Come," she commanded, before remembering to add a "please" in respect to his License.

Revive fell in behind her, floating after her as she deftly pushed herself through the halls and towards her commander's office.

"I've heard initial reports," she was saying, "about how the two-drive turned the battle. What do you know about that?"

"Only that it stopped me from destroying Celestial Being's mother ship," Revive said. "I had it in my crosshairs, but then it attacked. Its speed, its power…"

Kati nodded. "You too?" she asked rhetorically. "Patrick was in much the same situation before it blindsided him," she said, giving him a brief explanation.

"Patrick…?" Revive trialed, searching his memory for the name. "Oh, him," he said with little enthusiasm when the red head's face came to mind.

"I sympathize," said Kati, knowing what he was thinking even without quantum brainwaves. "But believe it or not, he is skilled."

"If you say so," Revive responded, still dubious.

"Well, at least lucky," she conceded, before twisting her head as her radio head set beeped. Listening intently, she bid the other person goodbye and turned to face Revive. "I'm sorry, something has come up requiring my attention," she said. "Debriefing you will have to wait. Would you please send me a written report by 0600?" she asked, allowing him time to rest and recuperate first if he chose. Seeing him nod, she pushed herself off the wall and down another hallway.

"Oh, one more thing," she said, catching Revive's attention. "I'm glad you survived to return alive, Revive," she said, for once using his first name as he had allowed. "We'll have better luck next time." Then she was gone, and Revive was left to go where he would.

When Revive did write that summation of the day's battle shortly thereafter, he raised eyebrows when he sent it first not to Ribbons, but to Colonel Mannequin. Colonel Mannequin's third lesson to him was not to act solely from duty or for the Plan, but in consideration of others.

---

When the battlefield was on earth, Mannequin was more in control of the situation. That was Revive's take after careful observation. Perhaps it was because the battlefields had ranged from the Alps of Europe to the shores of Africa, all past stomping grounds for the European woman. Or perhaps he was just admiring her poise as they hunted down Celestial Being's ship.

When he had broached the subject of their commander to Bring Stability as they approached the damaged ship, the other Innovator had merely grunted. Bring paid tolerated her like he did any other human: mostly by ignoring them, except in so much they affected the battlefield. The Innovator had no sense of camaraderie or personal loyalty like the human shared with her command, or of the usefulness those could have in furthering their goals.

"If you think she's so valuable, ask Ribbons to make her an Innovator," Bring had eventually snapped when Revive told him so. "Why don't you put in a good word for her if you think so highly of her?"

Unfortunately, that had been one of the things Revive would ever hear from Bring Stability: inter-Innovator fratricide brought the red-haired one down shortly after. But they would come back to him when Revive later received a highly personal, highly secure call from the head of A-LAWS himself.

"What do you think of Colonel Mannequin's performance?" Homer Katagiri had asked, breaking to the heart of things immediately. "In light of the death of an Innovator and of her multiple failures, as well as a lack of enthusiasm for our cause, concerns have been raised about allowing her continued command." He didn't say who had raised those concerns, but Revive had a hunch. Even so, Bring's words had come back to him.

"Colonel Mannequin's performance has been nothing less than perfectly satisfactory," Revive had answered. "All her failures have been due to events beyond her control, not any lacking on her part. I doubt another commander as suited against Celestial Being could be found quickly."

Katagiri had said nothing and stared at Revive for some time, perhaps trying to glean any motivation for the Colonel's defense, but Revive remained impassive and waited until the Human backed down.

"Very well," the General had said. "I will defer to your judgment." Then he had hung up.

Nothing more had been said on the matter. Colonel Mannequin never knew just how close she had been to being relieved for being seen as unreliable, and would never know just what role Revive had played in allowing her to keep fighting against Celestial Being.

She would never know, and would never give any sort of gratitude, but… it was pleasing, in some way. To help someone who trusted you with no expectations of reward or praise. And that was how Revive learned the meaning of generosity.

---

It was a force even an Innovator could be impressed by. Much of the A-LAWS entire force, gathered at one point for one mission: the extermination of Celestial Being. Battalions of mobile suits, a prototype of one of the most deadly mobile armors to date. Three combat innovators. All with a unified purpose. All in the hands of Colonel Mannequin. Revive had no doubts about the outcome of this operation.

There was only one thing missing, one person. The red haired idiot would not be fighting today, and nothing made Revive happier. That meant one fewer person to distract him from his target, one fewer person risk losing the prize to. Relegated to piloting a fix-winged aircraft? Revive would prove the difference between them beyond any doubt.

Apparently his eagerness was infectious, or at least apparent to those with the abilities to feel it. "Looking forward to avenging Bring?" asked Healing Care from the suit beside him.

"Something like that," Revive replied. "I'm looking forward to putting Celestial Being behind us, so we can move on to better things."

Better things indeed. Healing giggled in mirth. "Well then, I'll allow you first blood," she granted magnanimously. "Wouldn't want to let you fail to fail to impress the lady now, would we?"

Revive only looked ahead and bared his teeth in a smile. "Thank you," he said. "I look forward to it."

When Revive had to withdraw the finishing blow at the retreat command, he learned the true meaning of frustration. Knowing that it was from the Colonel didn't help the feeling one bit, even if learning of the coup did help him sympathize with the Colonel's own frustration.

---

Revive had never seen Kati Mannequin distressed before, and quickly decided it was unbecoming of her. In her command office, the two of them looked over any and all of the latest data of the situation at the orbital tower, and it was apparent that she was uneasy. Small things, like a constant clenching and unclenching of her hands, or swallowing more often. She did that several times as she saw the publicly released images of soldiers mowing down innocent civilians with machinegun fire.

"Are you feeling alright, Colonel?" Revive asked when Kati visibly gagged at one particularly gruesome scene.

"Of course not!" she snapped at him. "How could anyone be fine after witnessing that?"

Revive looked at the scene again, and could only see humans being butchered like cattle. If he wouldn't cry for cattle, why should he the other? But saying that would be tactless.

"Well, this is what A-LAWS was made to prevent, correct?" he asked, seeking to guide her to the light of reason.

"Much good that did, now that they seized the tower," she swore.

"Then we will just have to redouble our efforts, both to solve this crisis and to prevent others," he supplied.

"You're saying that A-LAWS should take more power?" she asked. "A-LAWS actions are probably a good part of what was behind this, regardless of what the talking heads parrot," she said, daring him to deny it.

"Even so, what of it?" Revive asked, trying to be reasonable. "A-LAWS was established in response to insurgent groups, not the other way around. We fight a battle that was started almost as soon as the Federation was formed. Backing down now would do nothing to stop those dedicated to breaking apart the Federation and humanity back into the squabbling power blocks. With that in mind, more power to track down and eliminate the last vestiges of resistance is what will stop the bloodshed the fastest. If we do that, events like these will be a thing of the past," he concluded, indicating the video feed.

Kati looked at him, and he for once he wondered just how perceptive a human could be.

"You believe that," she said, stating it as a fact. "You really think that spilling more blood will stop a river of it."

"With every fiber of my being," Revive amditted. "If you compare the number of deaths before the formation of A-LAWS with the number of deaths after, there is a clear correlation. Even if the Tower is destroyed, it will be but a blip on the statistical graph."

"I hardly consider tens of thousands of lives a 'blip'," Kati said. "As a soldier, I have a duty to protect those citizens."

Revive wondered what she would have thought of his near-assignment to destroy the kingdom of Azadistan in preparation for the Federation's reorganization, and then decided not to. Instead he gestured to the screen once again. "Wouldn't it be worth it to sacrifice the few for the more, for all time?" he asked, trying to make her grasp the Innovator's code.

But she clearly didn't, and he felt disappointment for her. If only she understood that one thing, she would understand why all of this, all of A-LAWS, was necessary. Everything would be so much better then. But, as he was coming to realize, some things simply couldn't be. That was the sixth lesson she taught him.

---

"Colonel Mannequin."

"Captain Revival."

He knew. She knew he knew. He knew she knew he knew. She knew he knew she knew he knew.

"It really is lovely this time of night, isn't it?" he asked, pretending for the entire world as if nothing were wrong.

"I couldn't say," she replied, also pretending. "I don't have much experience for comparison. I'm not usually one for night time walks."

"Oh, you should," he assured her. "Especially out at see like this. You can see so much more than on land."

"You're a star gazer, Captain?" she asked, genuinely curious but also seeking to keep his attention diverted that much longer.

"I will likely spend much of my later life in space," he confessed, "so it's always had its own pull for me."

"Then why are you still on Earth?" she asked. "Shouldn't you be helping with the colonization efforts then? I hear that they are always looking for good men. I would be more than happy to give you a recommendation should you ever wish to transfer out of A-LAWS."

Revive shook his head. "Not while there are still things I have to do here on Earth," he said, regretful. "Afterwards, thugh…"

"A pity," said Kati, and he knew at some level she really meant it, even if she found his politics deplorable.

"Indeed," he said. "I had hoped you would understand." There, it was said. Before she could give a subtle nod to the man behind him, though, he continued.

"Ah, Lieutenant Colasour. You shouldn't sneak up on people like that; they might get jumpy." The idiot's gasp betrayed his exact position, and it was child's play to turn around and pluck the pistol from his surprised grasp. Even before he could get his finger in the trigger well, though, he heard the slide of steel on leather, and knew without looking that Mannequin had her own pistol trained on him.

"No need for that to watch the stars, now is there Colonel?" Revive asked, careful to show that the gun was pointed nowhere near the idiot who had somehow crawled his way into her affections. "I merely wanted to remove any cause for commotion." Walking to the locked hanger doors, he took his unique key pass and slid it through the electronic lock. The doors opened quickly and quietly, and without the digital fingerprints that would have accompanied anyone other than a License holder opening the flight deck at such an hour.

"There, that's much better for watching the stars, right?" he asked, even though little light of any sort broke through the dust clouds that had covered the skies since the elevator's collapse.

"Revive, you…" Kati trailed off, for once as speechless as the idiot.

Revive tossed a careless wave. "I don't feel much like watching the sky tonight. I'll leave it to you to close the doors, Colonel," he said, not looking at her as he did so. Passing by red-hair, he took care to step on his toes and whisper into his ear.

'If she's important to you, you'll have to protect her from now on, even from me.'

Revive walked away from the two and didn't look back, even when he heard what he assumed were salutes from both of them. He believed in his mission as much as she believed in her values. And that was the seventh and final thing Colonel Mannequin taught him: resolve.

---


	19. Motivation

Can I see Mr. Bushido doing this?

Yes, very much so.

---

00 S2 Drabble 19

Motivation

---

_Before you set out for revenge, be sure to dig two graves. _

_—Chinese Proverb_

---

"What a disgrace, Gundam." Gone was the man's usual frenzied yells, raging in battle lust. In its place was a scornful dismissal.

"You!" Setsuna turned, the 00 Raiser's glowing frame briefly leaning towards the black machine. "Go away! I don't have time for you!" His focus was clear, fixated on the third retreating machine and the blond haired woman inside. His machine continued to glow, ready to continue the chase and return to where the conversation left off.

"You wish to continue this farce?" asked his reoccurring enemy. "Have you truly fallen so far? I won't allow it!" Initiating his own torrent of particles, trans-am fought trans-am.

"Don't you feel it, Gundam?" raved his attacker as they exchanged blows. "Don't you feel how this was meant to be, clashing blades like this once again? Don't you just relish in your power?"

"No!" exclaimed Setsuna. "I'm not like that!" But try as he might to connect, the other machine parried every blow with ease, and striking back just as hard. Increasingly, he watched as the limit on trans-am slowly drew closer.

"Oh, I think you are," taunted his adversary. "Overcoming all with that peerless force, shaping the world to your whims. You enjoys playing God, destroying anything and everything you see as unworthy of existing in your presence."

"No!" Setsuna exclaimed again. "My Gundam and I, we aren't just tools of destruction!"

"Oh? Then what did you do all those years ago? What were you doing when you humiliated me, killed my men and destroyed everything I knew, and made me into the man I am today?" the other demanded, a familiar anger filtering into his voice. "You are a magnificent destroyer, Gundam, and I will not be misled otherwise! Now fight!" he demanded, slaming blow after blow against the 00's crumbling defense.

"You're wrong!" protested Setsuna, the prelude to despair entering his voice even as the last seconds of trans-am passed away. "We aren't like that anymore!"

But it was a futile explanation, as effective as his last feeble swipe before the 00's rosy hue faded. Even as his particles depleted and the Gundam lost its power, his enemy's torrent of particles showed no signs of abating anytime soon.

"So you have forgotten your true nature, Gundam," the enemy mused in a disappointed tone as it hovered above the helpless titan before it. "You truly have grown soft despite your might, nothing like what captured my attention all those years ago." He laughed, the twisted distortion behind it leaving a dark taste in Setsuna's mouth.

A blink, the smallest gap of time, and the black machine vanished from Setsuna's sight. Only his co-pilot's gasp alerted Setsuna as to the black machine's position, above and behind the 00, trapping the 00's movements with a hand on the 0 Riser's nose. The other raised the beam saber meaningfully.

"Then I will have to remind you," the damned man said, and brought the saber down pummel-first into the 0-Riser's cockpit.

The first blow did not crush it: the support craft was made to endure battle conditions, and was more than a mere fighter. The armor bent, the glass cracked as the Japanese man inside saw the giant metal hand slam down mere inches away from him, but it did not give... yet.

"Saji Crossroads!" Setsuna cried, fear and alarm coursing through his system. "Gundam, move!" he pleaded, pushing at the controls for the least bit of relief for his friend. But with the lack of particles, the other machine easily kept its grip as the pummel came down again. Again it did not crush completely, but as it raised its arm a third time it was clear that this would be enough.

"Please, stop!" Setsuna begged his tormenter. "I'll fight, but stop!" If he were whimsical, he would say that he heard another voice, distant, feminine, plead for mercy as well. But the other listened to no pleas for clemency.

"Remember this feeling, this bitter taste of shame and helplessness," he advised instead. "It will keep you fighting for years. I should know." And then he brought the pummel down in a third, final blow that smashed in the 0 Riser's cockpit, crushing the man inside into shreds of tissues and bones.

Setsuna yelled, he cursed, he tried to command the machine to move and kill the murderer. But Mr. Bushido only rewarded his efforts by taking his blade and cutting deep into the 00 Raiser's twin engines, crippling its mobility even as GN particles returned.

"When you feel you have remembered who you are, Gundam, come find me. I will be happy to duel you then," he said. Giving a final dismissive glance to the 00, Mr. Bushido left, content that he had motivated the boy to truly fight again.

And he was right.


	20. The Nine Ships

"We… understand each other, right?" Anew asked, a bit hesitantly even as the final seconds of her life ticked by.

"Of course," the man she loved answered.

"That's good," she replied, giving him one final smile as they parted. She closed her eyes as they separated, and knew when her time passed. And then…

There was blackness. No sound, no texture, just blackness. There in the darkness, Anew waited.

And waited.

And then, there was something. An itch. But simply scratching it made it go away, and she went back to waiting in the darkness. It was… surprisingly boring. Not what she had expected for when she died.

"Then why don't you open your eyes?" came a voice when she said it aloud. "Think fast."

"Wha-?" she began, but was cut off by a thud as something hit her face. Clawing it away and opening her eyes, she saw the person who threw it.

"The idea is to put the clothes _on_," said the blond-haired man, looking away for modesty's sake. "As interesting as it is to know that the drapes match the curtains, you're not exactly my type. Plus, I doubt you really want to be an exhibitionist where you're going."

Hastily putting on the full-body cloak, she looked up as he said that. "Going?" she asked. "Where? And who are you?"

"I am Joshua of Alaska," the man in the blue Union uniform introduced himself, "and I am your guide to-" and he pulled two fans out of seemingly nowhere, as confetting and neon signs came down in the middle of the ethereal nothingness.

"Another Dimension!"

---

00 S2 Drabble 20

The Nine Ships

---

_I will let you go… to Another Dimension!_

_-_Vegeta

---

Modestly cloaked, Anew asked "Another Dimension? This isn't Heaven or Hell? I'm not dead?"

Joshua waved the thought aside. "You're dead," he said. "I've just always wanted to do that to someone. This isn't Heaven or Hell either. Well, not quite. No flaming demons or anything, but you're judged by your character in life, and sent accordingly."

"Well, I did some good things, but I was an Innovator, and I took a child hostage…" Anew admitted, tapping her fingers together.

Joshua rolled his eyes. "Not your actions, your character. How well you were developed. Not like that!" he exclaimed when Anew cast a doubtful eye down her cloak. "I mean what sort of character development you had, or what kind of character you were. You could conceivably be a total douche and get off lightly here."

"I still don't understand," Anew said.

"No one does their first time," said Joshua. "Follow me and I'll show you around." He turned and began to walk into the ethereal nothingness, no direction apparent, but he turned around. "Aren't you coming? I will leave you behind," he warned, and Anew hurried to follow behind him, and as she did the nothingness blurred around them. A great host of ships and machines appeared, heading for some unknown direction, and they quickly zoomed towards the leader.

---

**The First Ship – The White Base**

---

_Your guide ushers you across Time itself, and you find yourself at the head of a great fleet at the edge of a terrible war, in the halls of a Trojan Horse. You are in the White Base, a place in war but past loss. You encounter relics of the past and inspirations of the future, and inside these halls you find souls guided by the light of reason and their own determination, beyond self-doubts or petty motivations. These are virtuous soldiers and those who have found the will to fight, men and woman who wish for peace but have consented to wage un-hypocritical war until that day. You share company with the likes of Amuro, Shiro, or Quatre, men who have developed across the lengths of their stories to their final maturity and resolve, overcoming personal weaknesses along the way. There is little personal pettiness here, only resolve, but there is still a lingering regret for those who have died and those who will continue to do so._

---

"It's a nice place, as you can see," said Joshua, leading her onto the bridge. "Definitely the most prestigious ship in the Fleet to be assigned to."

"Really?" she asked after Joshua exchanged greetings with another character. "It seems so… archaic. Just look at those lights and buttons: what do they do? And those computers; they must be centuries old, at least."

Joshua gave her a sharp look before deigning to explain. "It's a matter of style: haven't you ever heard of the Rule of Cool? It doesn't matter that this ship was thought up before the laptop was even affordable, or that holo-screens were strictly in the realm of sci-fi, or that other ships were designed with much fancier abilities and materials. This ship will always be top of the line and capable because it is considered cool, and it is cool because it was the First. Everything else, every other White ship in the fleet, traces itself back to this one. It is the prototype for all else, and you know what that means."

"But I've never seen anything like this ship in my life," protested Anew. "Neither in Celestial Being or from the Innovators. And prototypes aren't better than production-run weapons; they are prototypes because they're still using experimental technologies that haven't yet been firmly militarized yet. A prototype is a test bed for new technologies, and production models are nearly always superior. Just look at the Gundams of Celestial Being: the 0 Gundam and the Second Generation Gundams were considered obsolete even compared to conventional mobile suits. Your logic makes no sense."

Joshua sighed. "It's no use arguing; logic and reason doesn't necessarily apply here, something you'll understand soon enough. Anyways, back on topic. Nice place, good people. This is where fully developed characters go, characters who have changed steadily over the course of their lives."

"Is this where I'm going? Is that why you brought me here?" asked Anew.

Joshua stopped in mid-step, and silence fell across the bridge. Then Joshua gave up the fight and began bawling in laughter.

"You… you think… you think you're developed enough for here?" he managed through laughs. "Oh, that's rich! I'm going to have to tell the boys about that one." More than a few others were also chuckling, though many were at least trying to hide the fact.

"Lieutenant Joshua!" came a strong British voice. "I believe you made your point already. Lay off the lady; you didn't know everything after your death either. That's no reason to be offensive towards her."

"Oh, go bugger your mother, Limey," Joshua said, flicking off one of the most famous characters in Franchise lore. "It's in my character to be more than a little asshole-ish.

"And it's in my character to do what I'm about to do," said Captain Bright. "Miss Returner, would you mind stepping out into the hall briefly? I have some corrections to make."

A few minutes later, Joshua limped out of the bridge and over to where Anew was. "Sorry," he bit out before throwing a glare at the bridge. "Let's go to our next stop, shall we?" Turning down the hall, he stepped forward, and they were back into space.

---

**The Second Ship – The Argama**

---

_You have come to a ship darker than the last, but brighter too, where the winds of cruel fates echo down the halls beside laughs of camaraderie and love. This is the Argama, where those who ended in tragic and pathetic fates after being stripped of all they held dear now live their lives with those who left before them. Some are heroes, some are villains, and a few might have been either but for a change of perspective. The whispers of their past lives and tragedies ripple down these halls, but are kept distant in the presence of past loves and friends whose loss drove many to despair, desperation, and beyond. Tragedy knows no sides, and neither does irony: Kamille Bidan and Jerid Messa both walk these halls in solidarity with you, as does every man and woman who has died only after watching everyone and everything they cared for slip between their fingers. But there is hope, even in this ship of war: never forget, you are never truly beyond those who love you, nor are you ever forgotten._

---

"It's… chilly," was the first thing Anew could bring herself to say upon the second ship, wrapping her too-thin cloak tighter around her.

Joshua shrugged. "You're just not with many people; the warmth is proportional to how many people are with you. People with many comrades find this ship warm and pleasant; those constantly alone find it frigid. Same with the whispers you're likely hearing in the background: the more company you have, the more distant they seem. I think it's someone's idea of a metaphor for the friendships and company one kept in life, compared to the tragedies they endured in losing almost everyone and everything."

He shrugged. "Or maybe someone left the air conditioner on, I don't know. I never lost that many people, but then I'm also wearing a warm coat," he said, and Anew wrapped her cloak a bit tighter while looking on with envy.

"Come on," Joshua said, indicating for her to continue walking. "I'll introduce you to some of the people."

"Joshua! What's hanging man? Who's the new chick?" came a friendly voice, and Anew turned to see a young white man with a long ponytail suddenly leaning against the American.

"Maxwell. Speak of the Devil, eh," muttered Joshua, trying to shake the smaller man off. "This is Anew Returner: new arrival. It's my job to show her around. Introduce yourself, boy," he said, finally pushing the younger man away. The other man turned the stumble into a hop, and landed in a deep bow towards the female Innovator.

"Duo Maxwell, at your service," he said. "I may cheat and steal, but I never lie. At least not to beautiful young ladies such as yourself," he said with a wink, shamelessly flirting.

"I'm probably older than your father," she threw out, and hid a smile at his incredulous start. "Why are you here on this ship?" she asked to change the subject. "A priest like you…" she trailed, misled by his preacher clothes.

"What, you don't think I've suffered enough loss to be here?" he asked, offended. "I had to watch my childhood friends die, watched the Priest and Sister die because of me, and I had to watch my own Gundam blow up in front of me, twice! I might add, and you ask if I haven't lost enough?" Seeing her rush to apologize, he broke a grin and showed he wasn't quite serious. "I'm just joshing with you. I do have a bunk here, but this isn't where I live now. I'm just visiting."

Anew blinked. "You can do that?" she asked. "I thought you would be confined to your place in this afterlife."

"Hah!" Duo laughed. "They haven't made the prison that can keep me!" he boasted.

"Have they tried gripping your hair?" asked another man who had walked up behind Duo, giving the braid a quick tug. "Kamille Bidan," he introduced himself and extended his hand to Anew. With him were a few people, including a number of women.

"Don't even joke about that sort of thing, man," Duo said, cradling his braid protectively. "How'd you like it if someone cut off your hair?"

"I think he'd thank them," came a third voice from the other end of the hall. "It would stop confusing people about if he's a girl or not. Isn't that right, Kamille?"

"Jerid…" growled Kamille, and both Joshua and Duo paled slightly at the combination.

"That's Jerid Messa to you," the tall blond said, giving his full name for Anew's benefit. "New arrival?" he asked Joshua, indicating Anew. Behind him were a few people, including two women, who also looked curious.

"Yes, Anew Returner. Newtype equivalent. We were just about to leave…" he said meaningfully, pushing Anew out from between the two groups. Duo tried to escape as well.

"What is it with exhibitionist newtypes these days?" asked Jerid, taking sight of her thin cloak. "Have things really changed so much? Back in our day, we had the decency to wear clothes during our newtype moments," he said, and his green haired companion remembered semi-fondly her own death day experience.

"It's not like I asked for it," Anew defended herself, but she was mostly forgotten.

"I say it really went down with Kamille-light at the back of the Fleet," Jerid continued, ignoring the firm touches from the two woman behind him.

"Jerid! Don't pick a fight!" both Maour and Lila warned, but he continued regardless.

"Granted," he said, "at least it was clear he was more of a man than Kamille would ever be-"

Before Kamille could throw a punch, Jerid's own female companions beat him to the punch, none-too-gently sending him into the middle of the hallway with a punch-kick combo.

"Ha!" Kamille crowed, anger turning into gloating at the other side's treachery. "How do you like getting beat by a real girl, Jerid?"

"At least I can pick real women, boy," Jerid spat from the ground.

"Hah!" Kamille mocked. "You couldn't beat me, and you can't even control your own women! What kind of man do you think you are?"

Friends and more they might have been, but Kamille's own female companions were no more submissive and obedient than Jerid's, and Kamille soon found himself sliding on the ground beside Jerid.

"I'm terribly sorry this is happening again," said Lila, advancing in a combat crouch towards the fallen men. "I could have sworn Jerid promised that he wouldn't pick fights again."

"It's our fault," said Four, darkness covering her face. "I suppose we didn't teach Kamille well enough to convince him to give up those silly taunts."

"Truce?" offered Fa, showing no sympathy for the downed Kamille.

"Of course," accepted Maour, advancing as well.

"If we want to get out of here intact, we'll have to work together. Again." whispered Kamille from the floor. "Temporary truce?"

"Agreed," whispered Jerid back. "Though for the record, the only reason I never killed you a half dozen times over was because someone always saved your worthless hide at the last moment."

"Duly noted." Together, sworn adversaries turned to face the approaching women, but Anew's attention was diverted when Duo and Joshua both ran her out of the hall and back into the ether.

"What was that about?" she asked as both men panted in the starry cosmos.

"Jerid and Kamille hate each other," said Joshua, stating the obvious.

"Like, a lot," interjected Duo. "It might have something to do with how they kept killing eachother's loved ones."

"However, they're also both quite a bit alike when you come down to it."

"Parallel character development, bitter rivalry, similar flaws, the whole nine yards," piped in Duo.

"Part of that is a fondness for strong women," Joshua continued. "And unfortunately, the women get along better than they do. I don't know whose idea of a joke it was to put them both on the same ship, but it's easier just not to be caught in between their fights."

"Aren't the two already dead?" asked Anew. "I can understand a bitter rivalry in death, but surely after returning to their loved ones…"

Duo and Joshua blinked. "Lady, weren't you paying attention?" demanded Duo. "It's not the two of them fighting you have to watch out for: it's when the women tag team the both of them and try and make them get along!" Duo began to wail theatrics into Joshua's sleeve, ignoring the blond man's disgusted attempts to dislodge him. "It's brutal, man, just brutal. They'll drag in any bystanders, and-"

Joshua, more frightening than anything else he could have done, actually patted Duo's head in sympathy.

---

**The Third Ship – The Ptolemaios**

---

_On the third ship, you find yourself amidst blue and white, and in halls with conveyors both fast and stalled. Those with intermittent developments dwell here, moving in quick spurts followed by long stalls in death much as their character development did in life. This is not to say yours was bad or slow: sometimes, it was very fast indeed. Sometimes it was for the best, and sometimes it was for the worst. But at least it was there, and now so are you. This ship races to and fro, never stopping for any one battle for long, but now there is more than enough time for you to develop into who you were meant to be._

---

"I'm sure you already recognize, but this ship is-" Joshua began, but Anew was already struck by the recognition.

"Ptolemaios…" she whispered, touching the walls of the ship she had been upon only hours ago.

"Indeed," Joshua answered, though he had none of the fondness that she did. "Celestial Being's ship."

"Is it… real?" she asked. "I was just on it a few hours ago!"

"It's as real as anything here," the Union ace said, bitterness apparent. "One of the newest ships to the fleet, and likely where you'll be staying; most characters fit the flagship they served with. That's why the people-movers start and stop like that: it's another metaphor. Not too many people here yet; mainly minor characters who had an episode of development here or there." Indeed, much like the living Ptolemaios it was an almost barren ship, only a few sounds down the halls giving any proof of life onboard.

"Let's go on," urged Joshua. "There aren't many onboard, and no one you would know."

Anew turned, but a flash of a green pilot suit caught her eye as she was about to follow Joshua back into the ether. "Lockon?" she gasped, not believing her eyes. "Lyle!" she called, immediately chasing after the phantom.

"Wait!" called Joshua, but she paid him no mind. Pushing down the halls, she was caught sight of the green suit turning another hall, one that she couldn't remember from life. Kicking off the wall, Joshua well behind her, she entered the room her target had entered. It was an observation room, one she had never been in onboard the Ptolemy, and from it one could see the ethereal void, and the entire Fleet as it journeyed through. Lockon was there, watching it.

"Lockon!" she called again, ignoring the view. "You can't be dead!"

The man in the green pilot suit turned, and the same face she had died watching looked back at her in confusion. Not quite the same face, actually; this one had an eyepatch over one eye. But it was the same eyes, the same hair, the same bone structure.

"I can't?" he asked, confused, and it was the same voice as well.

"But you were supposed to get clear of the explosion!" she exclaimed. "Lyle, you were supposed to live! Was it another Innovator? Has that much time passed?"

Hearing his name surprised him, but the man had a flash of understanding and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Miss," he said gently, "Lyle is alive, I promise you. I'm his brother, Neil."

Anew's eyes showed her surprise, but Neil smiled gently. "We used to get that a lot," he admitted. "I've been long dead now. By the sounds of it, you knew my brother? Closely, I take it?"

"Ah, yes," Anew said, uncomfortable both from her mistake and from the prospect of meeting family so soon. "We were very close."

"I'm glad to hear it," Neil said, and scooted to lean back against a wall. "Is he doing well? I haven't heard of him or seen him for years. Not the worst thing, all things considered," he mused, knowledge implying the death of others.

"He's alive," Anew admitted. "I'm afraid I've made him sad, though. What with dying, you know."

"Ah, right," said Neil, awkwardly trying to salvage the meeting, but Joshua entered the room.

"There you are," he said upon spotting Anew. "I tried to warn you not to get lost; these aren't the actual ships you know. They're meant to be crewed by the souls of soldiers past, and there are a lot more dead soldiers than these ships were originally meant to hold. They're indefinite, and you'll just get lost if you rely on living memory." Too late he recognized who else was in the room. "You," he growled out, the true reason for his earlier haste to leave apparent.

"Joshua," greeted Lockon amiably enough. "You're looking in good health."

"That's a poor joke coming from the man who killed me," Joshua snapped.

"Don't be like that," Lockon urged. "It was a fair fight. Besides, your commander promptly avenged you by giving me a thrashing I still remember. I would have been captured, too, if it hadn't been for the Trinities."

"That doesn't make it better," Joshua growled. "How would you feel if you met your killer and he told you to not hold a grudge?"

"I'm already here," said Lockon. "It was my decision to trade my life for that shot, and mine alone. But if you mean what will I do when I see Ali al-Saachez again…?" he shrugged. "If I do, it will mean he's already dead, and my revenge will have been fulfilled. As it is, I can already visit my parents and sister. In death, I'm beyond vengeance. It's in the past now."

Joshua only glared, and Lockon relented. "Alright," he admitted, "I'd probably take a few pot shots at him."

"Well, in that case," said Joshua…

---

**The Fourth Ship – Solomon**

---

_In the heart of the fleet lies Solomon, a bastion in turbulent times. Not a ship, true, but here the noble and enduring foes and allies both now work to endure the battles ahead, battles without end but that are faced with head raised high regardless. You will man the ramparts along with the heroic legends of Ramba Ral and Andrew Watfield, Norris Packard and recently even Sergei Smirnov. Treize Kushrenada, the embodiment of battlefield nobility and purpose, leads among them. Enemies or allies alike, noble and sympathetic warriors now prepare for the battles ahead, and you have the privilege to serve beside them. Just… try not to get in a fight with someone you might have killed before._

---

"I still can't believe you punched him," repeated Anew as they stepped into the great asteroid at the heart of the Fleet. "And in his good eye too!"

"Hey, with an opening like that? It would have been wrong not to take it," Joshua defended, more than a little smugly. "Besides, would you rather I had punched him in his bad eye?"

"Yes, well, no, but-" she said, indecisive, but the sound of a throat clearing stopped them both. Upon turning to see who it was, Joshua immediately jumped to a formal attention.

"Sir!" he exclaimed, as well as any new recruit.

"At ease, soldier," commanded General Revil, taking a well worn pipe out of his mouth. "I take it you've been in a recent scuffle? Perhaps with a past foe?"

"Yes sir!" responded Joshua, not trying in the least to cover it up.

"Well then, put it behind you now. There's no reason to fight anymore, not now. I know old grudges die hard, but we do need to work together for what lies ahead. That means all of us, friend and foe. If we return to the battles we've already fought, there won't be a future after the battles to come. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," submitted Joshua, and Anew was taken aback by how quick the normally cocky pilot was to accept a rebuke. She hadn't known him long, true, but it didn't seem like something he would normally do either.

General Revil turned to her. "And who might you be, young lady?" he asked, but without the least bit of patronizing. "A new arrival?"

"Yes sir," she found herself saying with respect. "Anew Returner. Innovator."

"Innovator, hm?" the old General said. "Ah, yes, the new breed of newtype. I'm not quite clear what sets you apart, but I'm sure you'll find your place with us soon enough. Welcome to our Fleet, Ms. Returner. Has the Lieutenant here been showing you around the fleet?"

"Yes sir," she said. "We've just arrived here, at…" she trailed off meaningfully.

"Solomon," said Revil. "This is the heart of the fleet, or the brain if you will. Everything that goes on, goes on from here. Selecting the guides for new arrivals, determining the final destination for every new arrival, everything. The greatest soldiers and officers live here, and it is our duty to see this fleet through it all. Should you find yourself with us, I will be glad to welcome you."

"Thank you," she said. "But General," she began, before pausing to see if she should continue her question. He gestured for her to continue. "General, just what is this fleet going through? Where is the Fleet going? What battles are left to be fought, if past enemies are to put aside their difference?"

The General threw a look at Joshua, but the Union man only shrugged. Sighing, the General put in his pipe once again and turned. Around them their surroundings changed as it did every transition, and now they were on the peak of Solomon itself, inside a massive command center. Soldiers bustled here and there, diligently at work, and the image screens (Or were they glass? It was anachronistic enough to be either.) offered a commanding view of the Fleet. Far in the front and in the distance, Anew could see the ships she had already visited, from the White Base to the Argama.

"Ms. Returner, what do you see out there?" asked General Revil.

"Ships," she said. "Many, many ships."

"But what are those ships traveling through?" asked another voice, strong and commanding, the ideal of true aristocratic nobility.

"Space," she answered.

The new voice, a regal man in a formal uniform, stepped beside the General. "And what is out beyond that?" he asked.

"I don't know," Anew admitted.

"We do," Treize Kushrenada answered. "Out there is a battlefield that we have not yet found."

"But the war is over!" she protested. "Who's left to fight? Ourselves? We're already dead!"

"Not ourselves," General Revil said. "Never ourselves. Not again."

"Then what?"

"The enemy," Treize said. "The last enemy we have not yet faced, who stands between us and the peace we wish to live. We do not know who it is, but each one of us knows it in our very bones: somewhere out there is a something else, an uncaring force that will destroy everything all of us care for. That is why we have this Fleet: to remember who we were in life, so that we can overcome that terror. That is what we sail towards, Ms. Returner, and that is what we have to fight."

"There is an old saying," General Revil brought up as they watched the Fleet journey through the ether. "Those who desire peace prepare for war. All of us on Solomon wish for peace very much, and that is why we are so very prepared."

---

**The Fifth Ship – The Albion**

---

_First behind Solomon is a familiar ship in the model of several before and many after. Though different in appearance, it has little distinct development, instead relying on expected traits and characteristics to see it through. This is the Albion, and this is the home of archetypes and characters who in life relied more on quirks and general characteristics than characterization to flesh out their person. Evolved humans, older veteran pilots, tragically crazed women, or masked men made out of the same mold, these are relegated along with the Black Tri-Stars, and Flag Fighters of the Franchise to this ship, ready to support, but never supplant, those stationed ahead of them. Don't despair for your identity if you find yourself here, though; commonly used ideas are commonly used often because they are good. Just because you followed an archetypical life or lived the life of a maverick does not mean that you did not live a memorable or exemplary one._

---

"They were very serious," noted Anew as they stepped away from Solomon and towards their next destination.

"They were," Joshua confirmed. "I know this is new to you, but if you must believe anything, believe them. Solomon is where the strong endure, and they work for the rest of us." He stepped forward, and turned around to face her.

"Anyways," he said, lightening up the mood, "welcome to the Albion. This is my favorite ship, not least because it's my own. This is where the interesting characters who weren't main characters reside: the deviants, the lunatics, and the just plain awesome, like myself."

"Isn't that another way of saying gimmick characters?" Anew asked, catching on to how these ships worked. "Ones that were distinct more for quirks and in-jokes than actual back story and development?"

"Of course not," said Joshua.

"Really, what gave you that impression?" said Heine.

"This lady comes up with the craziest ideas, right guys?" asked Miguel, and all three men nodded before Heine and Miguel vanished as quickly as they arrived.

"Who were they?" asked Anew.

"Who?"

"Those two guys who just appeared to agree with you. They looked just like you."

Joshua stared at her oddly. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"But-!"

"ANYWAYS," Joshua over-spoke, "the Albion has a number of cool characters. Not just run of the mill old-veterans like South Burning – yes, I said it, go cry in a corner old man – but also most of the legendary teams of the Fleet. Say hello to the one thing Celestial Being hasn't ripped off yet… the Black Tri-Stars!" Down the hall, certainly on cue, came the three large men, Gaia, Mash, and Ortega roller skating past them in their trademark formation with hockey sticks raised.

"The Copycat Tri-Stars!" Behind the originals came the doppelgangers from Destiny. Though their gear was shinier and hippier than the Black Trinity, they caused nowhere near as much awe and Joshua quickly moved on.

"A personal favorite, The Victory Bikini Assault Team!" A number of woman of all ethnicities, wearing only bikinis and military weaponry, passed by in a display that would leave any military fanboy with a hard on. At least one stopped close to Joshua and handed him a slip of paper, which he quickly put away.

"And last, but certainly not least, my own team! May I introduce… the Overflags!" Down the hall hurried just shy of a dozen men, all in Union piloting suits. Though there were nearly full dozen of them, including Joshua only three had discernable faces.

"It's good to see you around, Joshua," greeted Darryl Dutch. "The guys were thinking you gave up on us, and were about to move down Fleet."

Joshua rolled his eyes. "You wish, Aker fanboy. Ya'll still obsessing over the man's life?"

"You know you're curious too," said Howard Mason. "Don't deny it; I say you interrogate the Innovator arrivals."

"I hate the man, remember," Joshua defended.

"What's this I hear about hating and obsessing?" asked a late arrival, and Graham Aker walked up to the men as Anew look on with surprise.

"Nothing, Commander," lied Darryl as he and Howard tried to divert the American pilot, and Anew grabbed Joshua aside.

"He can't be here!" she hissed. "He's not dead!"

"Call that his dignity and reputation, then," Joshua whispered back. "Didn't the Creator himself say that Graham Aker was died during the final battle? He was speaking metaphorically. Graham Aker has a strong place on this ship, and perhaps on a few others; he isn't the only one who can find berth on more than one ship. A number of characters rightfully belong to multiple ships, and that's why the bastard can be here now. His character died long ago: they aren't the same man."

"But he is!" protested Anew, accidentally raising her voice. "He didn't die! Everyone knows that Mr. Bushido is Grah-"

---

**The Sixth Ship – The Radish**

---

_Behind the Albion lies the Sargasso, the heart and sinew of the Fleet, a multitude of ships surrounding Solomon. To the right lies a massive sea of ships, flatter and modular, bristling with untold numbers of soldiers and persons. Each one is of similar design or purpose, and is on one of these that you find yourself. This is the Radish, and it is where soldiers who fight to defend Earth find themselves in the Beyond. Those who serve here are good men and women, trained and proficient in their crafts of war, but lacking even those exceptionalities or quirks would warrant them on the Albion. Call them cannon fodder if you must, but remember; these are the men that make up the heart of any victory. If you find yourself here, you are likely to be forgotten. But even so, there are worse fates, and worse roles._

---

"-am" she finished as Joshua dragged them onto one of the many ships of the Fleet.

"Did you really have to say it?" berated Joshua. "Howard is such a crybaby about that fact, and Darryl isn't much better. It's as if you told a child that Santa isn't real. Waah waah waah."

"I'm sorry?" offered Anew.

"And really, I was trying to make that an enjoyable stop," he continued. "Couldn't you tell by how out of character I seemed, acting like a circus ring leader like that? I was doing you a favor, believe it or not. Trying to give you a comedic highlight before we got here. And look how well that worked!"

"I said I was sorry," said Anew, but Joshua just barreled on.

"You know what this level is? Boring. B-O-R-I-N-G. Almost no one of any interest is stationed here: only character-less grunts who might have gotten a name to make some emphasis on just how tragic war is for all sides."

"Hey!" Lieutenant Ming objected. "I-"

"No one cares, Ming," said Joshua. "At least I stand out because I was a dick to a fan-favorite. You? You just made Hallelujah popular, because nothing makes people like a psychopath quite like torturing a noble soul to death. So there; maybe someday someone will give you a role in a fanfic."

He turned to Anew. "So, yeah, this is where the good grunts go. And by good, I mean nominally sympathetic and on a good side, which really screws you up when the other side is the protagonist in a side story. Not much else here; you can go around all the ships in this sector and still never meet anyone of note."

"I… see," said Anew.

"Well, nothing interesting happened here at all, right?" asked Joshua. "Let's get on with the next stop, shall we?" he asked, and they stepped back into the ether.

---

**The Seventh Ship – The Musai**

---

_Guarded by various fearsome mobile armors, the smaller left half of the Sargasso is the mainstay fleets of colonial rebels and resistances. Though they may be violent, may serve tyrants and warmongers in pursuit of genocide, and though the stench of lingering corruption can be overpowering, these are not bad men. They fight for their homes, their freedoms, their survival, and are no less sincere than those from the Earth, even if it is often their fate to hang at the mercy of their more numerous or advanced enemies. Even so, these men and ships fight on regardless. Nothing exemplifies that more than the ship you stand on now, the Musai, home for those whose only crime was to oppose the protagonists. They are many, and they are varied. Gene was among the first, Barack Zinnin the latest. They are all but forgotten, but their presence remains very real. Welcome to their ranks, Revolutionary._

---

"It's… quaint," Anew commented upon seeing the Musai's bridge and its anachronistic monitors and computers. "A lot like the White Base."

"Same era," explained Joshua. "This part of the fleet is the other side of the previous one: this is where enemy grunts go, and by enemy I mean those who end up fighting for some crazed genocidal bigot or another. These things happen, though; most of these guys aren't that bad. Or at least I get along well enough with most of them."

"No one of note here either?" asked Anew, ready to move on at the mention of the company in the area.

"Actually, more than the other side of the Sargasso," Joshua said. "Enemy grunts are more likely to have names than allied grunts, and they get killed more often as well. Sometimes they even matter later in flashbacks."

"Really?" asked Gundams newest dead woman.

"Nah," said Joshua. "Not unless you consider Rusty dying half a dozen times over important. Considering how no one saw his face until extra material…"

"Extra material?" questioned Anew, and Joshua realized he had said a bit too much to a new recruit.

"Oh, look at the time," he said, avoiding the question. "Come on, we're getting close to done. Let's go. Here, put these on," he said, pulling out a pair of gloves out of nowhere.

"What are these for?" Anew asked.

"To keep you from catching the contagion. I dislike this part of the tour, but it's necessary. Follow me, and for the love of god don't fall behind."

---

**The Eighth Ship – The ArchAngel**

---

_Many believe they wish to serve eternally in the ArchAngel, one of the two rear guardians of the Fleet. Beautiful, powerful, and firm in convictions. Those who set foot aboard it become party to its aspirations, and in the implications therein. For when taken to their logical extremes, these are stop being virtues Narcists without substance, might without effort or justification, unbending obstinacies and obedience despite the reasoning and opportunities of other views, and this is becomes a ship of superficial perfections, of character stagnation. What was good once is not always good the next time around, and this ship tells the tale of actors who linger on the stage too long rather than take a more modest role. That is the legacy of this ship: initial excellence, followed by misuse and stagnation. A fulfilled promise followed by disaster and hypocrisy._

_But at least it has a nice bath._

---

"Why do people hate this ship?" asked Anew after exchanging warm pleasantries with many of the crew members onboard. "I noticed it from others earlier, but I can't tell why. These people are sincere in their good faith, aren't they?"

"Of course they are," Joshua said. "Lots of people are sincere. I'm sincere in my dislike of a number of people, fan groupies especially. You don't come to this ship because you're sincere, or because you have an opinion. It is how you act that sends you here."

"But they want just peace; what's wrong with fighting for that?" asked Anew. "Celestial Being wants peace, the Innovators want peace, and I'm sure most people from these ships hope for peace as well. But why is this ship so much farther behind the Fleet than the rest?"

Joshua carefully looked down the halls to check for anyone else and then leaned forward.

"This is hard to explain, so I'll be frank," he said. "This ship is filled with doppelgangers."

"Doppelgangers?" Anew asked, and Joshua nodded.

"Remember how I told you that Bastard Aker could be on more than one ship, because he fit more than one roll?" Anew nodded. "Well, in death you're present in all your rolls simultaneously. Don't ask how or why, it's just how the afterlife works. That way everyone is where they're supposed to be all the time. So while I'm here showing you around, I'm also with the Overflags at the Albion, and probably somewhere in the Sargasso, and so on. Part of you is still on the Ptolemaios as well." He paused a moment to let Anew absorb the implications.

"That's only one kind of doppelganger, though: you don't have to only be in one place at one time in death. Physics aren't quite real. That's why these ships have infinite capacity, always enough for everyone inside them. That's also why we can step into and through the ether just by willing it."

"But there's another kind of Doppelganger as well: the cross-character doppelganger. When a character undergoes a significant change, especially after a time skip, he or she… splits. There's no better way to describe it. The sum of his character before becomes one person, and the sum of his character afterwards becomes another. Graham is one of those characters: his earlier character is dead and distinct from his current state, and that's why he already has his place in the Fleet. I, on the other hand, don't have a Doppelganger," he said, and she could hear the capital D. "I never had the character change to create one."

"Do I have one?" asked Anew. "When I recalled my nature as an Innovator, I…" she trailed off, ashamed and upset at her actions.

Joshua shrugged. "Maybe," he said. "You'll find out over time. Some people have nearly insignificant Doppelgangers that are never seen: well-developed character are clearly different at the end of their development than from the beginning, but their beginning character is rarely what they're known or remembered for. You may be the same way."

"So, these people-" Anew prompted, catching the implications.

"That's right," Joshua confirmed. "This ship is where post-development Doppelgangers with no character come. They've become mere caricatures of the people they were during their development: a Lacus Clyne who speaks of peace and understanding but refuses to unclench her fists from power and control, a Kira who talks of avoiding bloodshed but is directly responsible for ever more of it. In their development, it was understandable; there were exceptional times, and they were still coming to grips with themselves. But when they stopped growing but kept preaching the same words even as they took more and more actions against the spirit of their lessons…"

Joshua shook his head. "They became stagnant and hypocrits. Everybody is to some extent, but they also usurped the stage to do so. I've met the true crew of this ship, from before their stagnation. Some of them even deserve to be on the White Base, others don't but still have respectable stations. I don't like them, mind you, but I have some respect for them. They have virtues, but they also have flaws that they deal with. These…?" he said, gesturing to the near throne- room of the bridge, where Lacus Clyne had sat above everyone else, the center of the ship.

Anew thought of it, and thought back to her meeting with the Lacus Doppelganger who sat at the head of the bridge, of how impeccably beautiful and gentle she had been without a hint of real human in her. Even Innovators, who were beyond mere humans, still felt emotions from love to anger.

"That's very sad," she said, but Joshua shook his head.

"This is where those whose development has stopped despite their continued prominence come," he said. "Where we're going next, it's even sadder."

---

**The Ninth and Final Ship – The Minerva**

---

_This is the last ship of the fleet, and where the failed protagonist Shinn Asuka himself resides. His character derailment echoes eternally through the annals of the Fleet, producing a chilling cold on anyone's spine. The three faces of Shinn, angry, crying, and emo, can be seen with mouths gushing bloody foam and eyes forever weeping at lost potential as he curses the three most hated names: Freedom, Fukuda, Morwosa. This ship is furthest removed from successful characters, and those who reside here are frozen in the moments their characterization was tossed aside. Hated or pitied by those few who will remember them, lost to their own series, they are the results of a careless or hurried Creator, and their tragedy is the greatest loss of all: potential. The Minverva is home to those dregs who are not the worst or the most vile, but who so clearly could have been so much more. Pity, not hatred, is what they deserve._

---

It didn't take Anew long to realize what was wrong. "This is just… terrible," she said. "It's as if someone is trying to force me to feel various ways. Aggressive music and dark shadows for those I'm supposed to hate, white light and choirs for those I should favor. But they're all so… empty." Vacant stares and blank attitudes had been the dominant responses to her initial greetings, and now they watched as most merely passed them by.

"It is," Joshua agreed, no smugness in his tone. "These aren't characters who merely stalled: these are characters who actually regressed from potential. Not merely the ones who lived on this ship in life: others to. There are Doppelgangers of others here to: I don't know if you spotted Jerid Messa around here, but he had much of his own relevance cast aside by the end. A few protagonists as well: there was one time when Quatre Winner fell into insanity. We were supposed to feel pity for him, but…" he shrugged. "It was ham-handed, as was other twists such as Wu Fei joining the coup army after the war. Anyone who's regressed as a character will have a doppelganger here; Mr. Bushido already has an entire suit reserved for him."

"Is there any hope for them?" asked Anew, sympathetic. "Anything at all?"

"Perhaps," said Joshua. "For some characters, regression is temporary. They develop out of it, and their Doppelgangers are largely forgotten. For other though… well, there's always a chance that they'll be given another chance for some sort of development in extra material. Not much of one, mind you, but it's there. If nothing else, there's always fan imaginations. Not much compared to actual development, but it's the most some of us could hope for. Not that many would care to revive my ghost for anything but to kill me again, though."

"That's not a very optimistic view," Anew chastised.

"No, but it's true," Joshua defended. "This ship isn't a repository of characters who must be saved: it's a monument to those who were ruined. The fantasies of others is all the hope that exists for some people."

"I can still hope for them," Anew said. "There's still potential for further use and growth. For them, and even for you."

Joshua looked at her sharply. "You're right," he conceded. "You may even have some potential left in you as well, Anew Returner."

---

.

"So… what's left?" asked Anew after they stepped back into the ethereal space. "That was nine ships, and I know this metaphor. Is it time to go to my level and do… whatever we do?"

"Smart, but not quite yet," Joshua said, leading her as they walked through the Fleet. "I have just a two more things to show you. Have you noticed the bright specks of light outside of the fleet?"

"The stars?" asked Anew, wondering if it was a trick question.

"Not quite, though it's hard to see from here. Follow me." As they approached closer, it was apparent that they weren't just stars. Some of them were moving much too fast, and as they got closer Anew could even see too-familiar traces of light between them.

"A… battle?" she asked in disbelief.

"Not quite. Punishment. Those are balls." The leer alone in his voice made Anew blush, but as they got closer she could see it was correct. Tiny little… spheres, with even smaller rockets attached and an under-compensating gun on top.

"That's where the worst of the worst go; the hated bastards who no one loves or cares for. Everyone who's deserves it has a doppelganger down there. They're doomed to be stuck in one of those balls until the final battle, forced to fight from a position of total helplessness and weakness." He grinned a bit savagely. "And, as a bonus, anyone else who wants to can launch and blow up however many they want to; they just respawn after a little bit. It makes for great boredom relief to blow up some boorish officer who sold his subordinates down the river."

"Aren't you afraid you might be down there?" asked Anew, skeptical. "You don't seem like the most lovable person."

Joshua snorted. "What have I ever done?" he asked. "So I didn't like a popular guy; big deal. I never did anything bad. I'm a dick, not a ball," he said, laughing at his own bad pun.

"Alright, there's just one stop left to go," he said, and pointed to a star brighter than the rest. "We're going there."

"What's there? Why's it so far away from the Fleet?" asked Anew.

"Why wouldn't it be?" asked Joshua in return. "Just watch."

---

**Ship Zero – Peacemillion**

---

_You have moved past war and means to fight it and have set foot in the Peacemillion, a vessel meant to reach mankind's destiny in space. Though the battlefield now lies behind you, much work remains to be done for the good of mankind, and it will take just as much of your skills, determination, and patience as war ever did. As the blood washes from your hands and recedes into distant memory, you will be illuminated by the pure light of the stars, and you will join others like you, soldiers and civilians both, smiling and content in the peace of infinite space. Here reside the civilians lost and those that you sought to protect. Here work the soldiers who have put war behind them. Before long you will know the serenity of building the future of humanity through peaceful space colonization, where no one will be asked to pull a trigger ever again. But know this: simply desiring peace is not enough to earn a place on this ship. You must be willing to throw away the gun as well, or else your hands will never unclench from being fists._

---

Explanations didn't seem appropriate, as if they would tarnish the sight. The colonization ship easily dwarfed the Memento Mori in all its might, and yet was the antithesis of it as well. The Memento Mori, or "Remember Death," was a weapon made to conquer, to force the world into unity. It was a weapon in itself, and nothing more. Like a sword, it was designed with just one purpose: to kill. It could do nothing else well. Even the warships of the Fleet could remove their weapons and still serve a purpose.

But this ship was different. It could carry great and terrible might, true, but to do so would be to defy its purpose. This was a ship made to explore, to spread life. Watching in silence, Anew and Joshua gazed on as men and woman of all ages and ethnicities worked together.

There was a civilian pod, carrying construction materials to and fro through the ship's giant corridors. Here was a young boy working at a laptop, creating a robotic pet for a dear friend. Out in front of the ship were workers, laboring to create a great spherical colony dwarfing anything Anew had ever seen in her previous life. A planetoid in scale, easily, and yet…

"It's Home," said Joshua, breaking the silence. "That's what we call it. One day it might even be complete."

"It's beautiful," Anew marveled, even though the masterpiece was only just started and scaffoldings and plates littered the space in between.

"It is," Joshua agreed. "I don't think you can find anyone to say otherwise in the entire Fleet." He turned to her, and was once again completely serious.

"You asked why we have the Fleet, and where we are going," he said. "This is it. This is where everyone hopes to come. Those on this ship are the closest, closer than even the White Base. They are the ones who will build us our Home."

"But why doesn't everyone from the Fleet join together to build it?" asked Anew. "Wouldn't it be finished so much faster?"

Joshua shook his head. "Remember what you heard on Solomon? There's still something out there, something malevolent. I don't know who, or what, it is, but I knew it with every fiber with my being after I died. You do to, even if you don't realize it yet. But it's there. And as long as it is, we still need to fight against it.

He turned and gestured to all the people aboard the Peacemillion, to all those working on the great colony. "These people, they're ahead of us," he admitted. "I'm not one of them. I may never be. These are people who know how to do something I never did: they build, they create, with no other desire but to further life. They're beyond war, something most people only claim to be, including those who seek peace through force."

But he looked at her straight in the eyes, with no hint of shame in himself. "But I can fight, and I can defend them from the Threat. That's why I fight, and that's why everyone on the Fleet is resolved to work together, whether friend or foe in life alike. Because we can fight, we can protect, and if we protect then these people can continue to create Home. I know that when that day comes that the Enemy is defeated, I can return here and live."

Anew wondered about that. She considered asking him if that Threat was really out there, if anyone had ever seen any sign of it, or if it was some unreal boogeyman that would forever be used to convince enemies to put aside their hatred and work together. That was what Celestial Being did, what Ribbons would have tried to do.

But then she turned back to Home, saw what was at stake, and decided not to. It was too much to risk if she was wrong, and nothing would be gained if she was right. In fact, everything could be lost. And regardless of either one, perhaps this was a case where the journey was just as important as the destination.

And so she said, "I think I would like to live here to."

---

_Fin_

---


	21. Crazy Gundam Chicks

I can't believe I did this. Started off with an attempt at all three ladies of the episode, but turned into something more general and less character specific. I'll try and make it up to ya'll somehow later this week, maybe with a concept drabble I've had jumping around.

Read to the melody of 'Still Alive'.

---

00 S2 Drabble 21

Crazy Gundam Chicks

---

And believe me I am still alive.  
I'm doing science and I'm still alive.  
I feel FANTASTIC and I'm still alive.  
While you're dying I'll be still alive.  
And when you're dead I will be still alive.

Still alive  
Still alive

-Still Alive, Portal

---

Crazy gundam chicks.  
We're making a note here:  
MUCH DISTRESS  
You can't begin to fathom how  
screwed up we are.  
Psycho gundam chicks  
We kill who we want  
because we can.  
Out of fear or vengeance against all those  
Who killed the ones that we loved.  
There's just no use trying  
to forgive and forget.  
We just keep on killing  
Till its time to medicate.  
And dark justice gets done.  
And we shoot a neat gun.  
To kill the bastards who are  
Still alive

I'm beyond angry.  
It's more a psychotic rage right now.  
Even though you found my heart  
To save me.  
I'll tear you to pieces.  
And throw the world into a fire.  
As it burns I'll laugh so much.  
Why aren't you happy for me?  
Now these fleshy embers make  
a beautiful sky.  
And we're changing the world  
we'll make it right this time.  
So be glad it all burns,  
Think of all the things they'll learn  
Next time the threaten to harm me  
and mine.

Don't you dare leave me.  
Not now that you've come inside my heart.  
Maybe you'll find someone else  
to love you.  
Maybe the bridge girl?  
THAT WAS A JOKE, HA HA, THAT BITCH.  
I'll kill her first, and quickly to  
So you'll have nobody else.  
Look at me still raving when there's fighting to do  
When I fight out there  
I'm everything to you.  
I know it makes you sad  
But there's vengeance to be had  
Pray that when I am done  
we're alive.

Psycho gundam chicks don't stick around.  
We get killed and end up in the ground.  
The madness spreads until you put us down.  
To a most tragic fate I am bound.  
I'll bring you grief but I beg, don't you frown.  
Don't you frown.  
Don't you frown.


	22. 25 Truths of the ALAWS

00 S2 Drabble 22

25 Truths of the A-LAWS

---

_Memes are a sign of a lack of creativity and motivation to make something new._

---

1. With few exceptions, the A-LAWS are an all-volunteer force screened from the regular Federation Army. This was done so that all members are motivated individuals with proven skills, and who are likely to be most loyal to their mission.

2. Not all A-LAW missions are atrocities against the weak and innocent. What is largely forgotten is that nearly all their missions are accurate and aimed against actual resistance cells and agents. This is because Veda allows unparalleled intelligence gathering abilities, and most of those not actually associated with the resistance are persons of interest, either politically or to the Innovators.

3. After the initial Unification politics and minor skirmishes died away, the A-LAWS are the one government force that continues to see regular combat. This has led to two main categories of people to join; the blood thirsty and the idealists.

4. The blood thirsty are those like Colonel Lindt, who relish battles and victories. The A-LAWS eagerly accepts these men for two main reasons.

5. One, their aggression is well suited for the A-LAWS goal of crushing any threat to the Federation, and these people rarely blanch from any action deemed necessary.

6. Two, these are the men and women who would seek battles anyway, regardless of which side. The Innovators logically reasoned that it would be better to have these types of men fight for them, rather than against them, if only because it would be troublesome to have to kill them.

7. The blood thirsty are actually a minority of the A-LAWS, even if they compose an undue size of the officer class. The Idealists are the larger faction, and are heavier at the lower levels. Many are soldiers who were twisted and affected by Celestial Being's actions.

8. Despite their name, the Idealists are not soft-liners who support a conciliatory stance. Such persons do not last long in the A-LAWS. The Idealists are those who tolerate whatever actions they take because they see it as necessary to achieve true unification and, by extension, a lasting peace. Even when those actions are abhorrent.

9. General Katagiri, head of the A-LAWS, is an Idealist. Even when supporting the construction and use of the Memento Moris, he did so because he believed it was necessary to coerce a lasting peace. After the Break Pillar incident, General Katagiri offered his resignation if it might further the world's reconciliation after the tower collapse. He was refused.

10. General Katagiri has made exceptions in A-LAWS for only two people. One was his nephew, who he recognized as a superb engineer. The other was the man who would become known as Mr. Bushido.

11. General Katagiri and Graham met years before Celestial Being arrived, back when the older Katagiri was a high-ranking Union military officer stationed in Japan. Graham, visiting Japan on leave, was referred to the Katagiri estate by Billy when he found that Graham could barely afford his hotel. Then-Colonel Katagiri played the perfect host, and he and Graham spent much time talking over everything from politics to Japanese theatre.

12. The next time Graham visited that house was after the final battle with Celestial Being. Not bothering to cover his scars, Graham came and asked for the right to fight Celestial Being when they returned. Homer promised to see what he could do, and bid Graham to stay at his home for the time being so that he might recover and refocus himself for the future.

13. A month later, Homer brought Graham with him to an undisclosed location far to the South. Leaving him in a spacious waiting room, Homer left for a private meeting, leaving Graham in the company of a red haired man named Ali al-Saachez.

14. This wasn't the first time the two had crossed paths. That had been Azadistan. It was the third. The second time had been on the sole surviving ship immediately before the final battle, as the GN-Flag's pseudo-solar reactor was recharged for its first and final sortie. While that was being done, Graham tracked down and interrogated the horribly burned survivor who had been Darryl's last witness.

15. Perhaps it had been because of the morphine and drugs making him ambivalent and more than a little incoherent, but Ali had actually praised Darryl for his role in the green Gundam's defeat. He even said he regretted that African-American's death, that there was a time he would have paid greatly for the man's services. Graham took such praise as Darryl's due.

16. He also vocally wondered why Darryl had been so beholden to an officer who left his command to flounder and die. Graham did not as much as flinch, knowing it was his due as well.

17. Ali al-Saachez was the first and second man to call Graham Mr. Bushido, though he only remembers the second time. The first had been back in that medical bay, mocking Graham's pride and reason for delay.

18. The second time had been half a year later, at the Innovator's headquarters. His view of Graham's discipline and decision to not repair his scar was no more reverent. Over the next few trips, it quickly became a pet name when referring to the blond man, and that was how the name initially spread.

19. Despite the name, Mr. Bushido has never claimed to live by any sort of code of honor or morality. Instead he lives for what remains of his pride. It is confusing and paradoxical, but it is all that he has left.

20. When Homer Katagiri eventually returned, he was accompanied by a young man with green hair. Looking into Graham's eyes, the lad had asked a few questions of Graham's motivations which Graham answered honestly, turned to General Katagiri, and acquiesced to the General's request for a License.

21. Though the rule is known by A-LAWS officers and senior NCO's, the License system is incredibly rare. Though nominally a few dozen persons have held the privilege, all but one have actually been the Innovators under various aliases during the Unification conflicts, when Ribbons wanted to insure that various battles and missions happened in a specific way but didn't want to reveal the Innovators to the still shakey EF establishment. The first non-Innovator License-holder was Graham Aker, at the private request of the A-LAWS commander himself.

22. Ali al-Saachez does not hold a License because he is not part of A-LAWS at all; Ribbons keeps Ali around for missions too important or sensitive for even the A-LAWS to undertake. Ali is darker than black; Ribbons has used Veda to erase every proof of Ali's existence, from articles to aliases, from the face of the earth.

23. Though he is beholden to them, Mr. Bushido has no deeper loyalty or affection for the Innovators or any other A-LAWS officer. Liberally wielding his License, he has made a habit of spawning animosity from A-LAW officers. The only officer he has never considered using his License against is General Katagiri, who has never asked for anything he would find objectionable. In doing so, General Katagiri has cultivated the card to serve him and not the Innovators should they ever threaten world peace.

24. Ribbons tolerates Katagiri's nascent conspiracy for many of the same reasons he tolerates Regene's meddlings; General Katagiri is a talented and reliable operator, won't take action unless Ribbons drastically loses his grip on events, and Ribbons is confident he can always put down any attempt that General Katagiri might put together. In the meantime, he is content to let Katagiri handle the day to day runnings of A-LAWS.

25. Because he does not dig further than a dozen or so levels, Ribbons is unaware of General Katagiri's other trump card: his young nephew. Though aware of A-LAWS newest genius mobile suit developer, General Katagiri has neglected to inform the Innovators of Billy's breakthrough of a workable trans-am system. It will be only a matter of time until they notice and he provides, but in the meantime Homer Katagiri has his own cards to play independent of the Innovators.


	23. Return of the Shorts

00 S2 Drabble 23

Return of the Shorts

---

_Sometimes, it's best just to return to what you started with._

---

**I Knew That You Knew That I Knew…**

---

As the adrenaline faded, Regene began to chuckle, and then burst into laughter over Ribbon's corpse.

"With this, Aeolia's plan becomes my own!"

"That's a touch arrogant, isn't it?" asked a far too familiar voice from behind and above, and Regene whirled behind to see Ribbons Almark walk in from above.

Regene gasped. "Impossible," he whispered, turning back to look at Ribbon's corpse. "Unless…"

"So you see?" asked the dead man. "You always were one of my most intelligent creations. A pity it's come to this."

If Regene was feeling fear, he wasn't showing it. Instead, Ribbons was surprised to hear the sound of laughter come from the purple haired Innovator. What started as a chuckle burst into laughter, leaving the lead Innovator to feel the slightest bit confused.

"Is something funny?" he asked.

"Oh, just that your master's gambit failed, clone," Regene said, looking back without the least bit of fear.

"Pardon?" asked Ribbons, wondering what Regene was referring to. Had the man snapped in the shock?

"Oh, you heard me. You're a clone, just like all those copies of Bring below. And clones are only fit to follow the orders of their superiors. You thought you could trick me, Ribbons Almark, but you were wrong."

"I'm afraid you're mistaken," Ribbons tried to correct. "It is I who tricked you. It was I who-"

"Don't flatter yourself, Clone," denied Regene. "Ribbons thought he could be clever. But I knew there would be a clone; with so many other clones below, it was impossible for Ribbons to not have made another of himself. I knew he would confront me eventually."

"And so you thought I would directly confront you instead?" asked Ribbons, "Instead of at least using a clone to do so when you reacted? I thought you were smarter than that, Regene Regetta."

"Ah, but I knew of the clones, and you know I know of the clones. Indeed, because I know of the clones, it would be so obvious to confront me with one to force me to move first."

"A gambit which worked perfectly," Ribbons tried to reassert his control over the situation, "because-"

"But I knew you would know that I knew about the clones, and that attacking one would only reveal myself," continued on Regene. "So instead you wanted to try and confuse me, knowing I wouldn't risk attacking a fake infront of me. Then you would confront me from above with the actual clone, leaving your real self open to finish me when I turned my back. You tried to be clever, but weren't clever enough. I could see through your switch."

"Did you ever consider to think that they might both be clones?" asked Ribbons in exasperation. "You're taking this farce to ludicrous extents. I am here, and you have revealed your treachery for the last time, Regene."

Regene looked at him as if he were the fool. "It's Ribbons Almark, Clone," he said patiently, as if explaining things to a small child. "He wouldn't pass up the chance to outsmart someone in person, smug and secure in the knowledge that they wouldn't strike." Regene smugly began to walk forward. "That lack of insight is proof enough that you aren't your Original. Submit to me. I am now the leader of the Innovators and Aeolia's Plan, Clone."

Ribbons rolled his eyes, fed up with Regene's foolishness. "Clone or not, I still have the mercenary with the gun. Kill him," he ordered his enforcer, and Regene was soon lying in a pool of his own blood.

Ali carefully walked forward and took the gun from Regene's limp hand as Ribbons watched. "Just who was more clever in the end, Regene?" Ribbons mused. "You couldn't even outthink a bullet. I am by far superior to you."

As Ribbons gloated, Ali threw a curious glance at his patron. "Hey, boss," he began. "Was he telling the truth, about you being just a clone? Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, so long as I get to fight, but I'm curious…"

Ribbons threw a disgusted look at Ali. "Just go out and fight," he snapped.

---

**Sleeping (Around) On The Job**

---

Watching the effects of the _Celestial Being_'s doomsday laser wiping out of the remains of the A-LAWS fleet, two souls watched with something other than horror. It was close to admiration, even.

"You have to give it to them," Revive Revival said. "When those humans do something smart, they do it right."

"Not bad indeed," Healing Care said, licking her lips in excitement at the power they had just witnessed. "I may have to go back and thank the engineer who came up with this… properly."

Revive looked at her oddly. "I thought you broke it off with him the moment you realized he was looking for more than a one night stand," he said. "Told him he was too pitiful and boring."

Healing waved it off. "That was part of Ribbons plan," she said. "Apparently women troubles motivate that man to new heights; Ribbons was warned by the head of A-LAWS to avoid it, but Ribbons felt he could take advantage of it. And if it helps Ribbon's plan…" she shrugged lewdly.

"You'd sleep with humans for Ribbons?" Revive asked, skeptical. "I thought both of you had higher standards."

"Oh, don't start that," Healing retorted. "I have quantum brainwaves too, you know, Mr. 'She's good… for a human.' Don't try pulling high and mighty on me."

"Forgive me," Revive said with false sincerity. "I'm just surprised you would sink to my level, that's all."

"Well, it's not like it wasn't fun," Healing admitted. "Even if he does have that woman fixation. He wasn't that bad; more fun than Bring ever was."

"I thought Bring always rejected you," commented Revive.

"And his clones aren't much better," continued Healing. "What?" she asked Revive upon seeing his expression at the possibilities. "Can't a girl have some fun?"

---

**Bring Out Your Dead!**

---

The Gagas exploded, leaving bits and pieces of the Jinx III behind the ship. They were safe, for the moment, but at such a terrible cost.

"Patrick!" Kati whispered again, biting her lip to curb her emotion. Beside her was her co-captain Casival Andrew Nova, a capable second in command who went by Cas.

"He died a brave man," Cas assured her, putting a supportive hand on her shoulder. "He saved you, and would have wanted you to carry on with the mission."

"-m not dead! I-" came a radio transmission from the debris, softly audible across the ship bridge.

"He came a long way, and did great things," Cas eulogized. "He deserves his rest. His soul must be very tired."

"-ctually, if I can get an- -obile suit, I can go out right now. C-"

"It's as if I could her him now," Kati said. "He sounds so close."

"-m right behind the ship! Don't leave me behind, Tai-sa-"

"You must be mistaken," Cas reassured her. "Patrick is dead, but I-"

"-an't you hear me? Bridge, re- -ond! This is –trick Cola- -m alive!"

"Patrick must be mortally wounded," Cas corrected himself. "If he isn't dead yet, he must surely be in an agony of torment."

"-again, alive! And perfectly well! Can you hear me, bridge? Kati, respond!"

"Patrick?!" Kati said, looking up and shrugging off Cas's hand. "Are you there?"

An annoyed expression flitted across Cas's face, and he made a subtle nod to the communication's officer, a close friend of his. Briefly turning off the bridge com reception, the man relayed the unspoken message. Out behind the ship, one of the Jinx III's carefully saddled up beside Patrick's cockpit, took careful aim, and punted it straight into the never-ending stream of Gagas. The cockpit bounced from impact to impact, tumbling down the stream of Gagas and destroying an amazing number of the kamikaze machines. When he was no longer visible, the Jinx III gave a quick thumbs up towards the Communication officer and returned to the battle.

Taking the cue, the communications officer restored and turned up the bridge reception and, looking very professional indeed, bent to his headset. "Lieutenant Colasour, can you read me? Patrick Colasour! If you're alive, please respond!"

Apparently they hadn't waited long enough, because Patrick's response was loud and clear.

"CaPtAiN! HeLp Me! I tHiNk I'm GoInG tO ThRoW uP aNd Di-" Then there was a loud 'thud', possibly of a helmet basing against something, and the man stopped speaking.

Kati and Cas traded glances, and not even Cas A. Nova could refuse the glimmer of hope in her normally jaded eyes. "We'll do a thorough search of the battlefield afterwards," he promised.

---

**It's Time To Du-Du-Du-Du-Duel!**

---

"Melee is the best form of combat!" Ali crowed. "There's nothing quite like the sensation of your enemy's guts oozing out of the holes you sliced open!"

Lockon sneered. "As if," he retorted. "Guns are much better. Only an uncivilized barbarian can't appreciate the majesty of putting a large caliber round straight between the enemy's eyes, and only a lout can't appreciate the lingering smell of gunpowder in the air."

Ali gasped. He'd been called and thought of as a barbarian many times before. In some ways, it was a matter of pride. But to be called a lout? "I challenge you to a duel, Limey bastard!" he yelled.

"I'm Irish, and we're already fighting!" yelled back Lockon. "What would be the point?"

"To do this properly," explained Ali. "Sword versus pistols. Mano e mono. My two balls versus your three."

Lockon opened his mouth to protest, saw Haro looking at him, and conceded the point.

Before he rejected the proposal out of hand, however, he realized a brilliant thought. Smirking on the inside, he responded by gaining space by backing up and holding his fire.

"I accept!" he said. "But we're going to do this right. No leg beam sabers, no missiles, just sword and pistols in a proper three pace duel."

"What?" asked Ali. "That's not how you do a melee duel."

"Tough luck," Lockon said. "You challenged me. I choose the means."

"Fine," Ali bit out. "Let's get this started."

Cautiously, wary of mutual treachery, both mobile suits turned their back on each other and slowly backed up.

Slowly.

Very slowly.

"Come on, I don't have all day!" snapped Ali.

"Keep your pants on!" snapped Lockon. "I don't want to scratch the paint!"

Eventually they were both back to back. "On three, agreed?" asked Lockon.

"Agreed," accepted Ali.

"Haro, keep count and leave the rest of this to me," commanded Lockon.

'I am so smart,' though Lockon. 'At six paces, I'll be out of his sword range and free to open up with my pistols, and I'll be able to fly back for more space. That man is such a fool!'

"Roger, roger!" squeaked the orange ball. "One…"

"Wait!" interrupted Ali. "Is it turn on three, or three and then turn?"

"Two…" squeaked Haro again.

"Three and then turn," Lockon snapped. "Don't you know anything about dueling, idiot?"

"Shove it sideways," ordered Ali.

"Three!"

Lockon whipped around ready to open fire, only to turn to look right into the sweep of the Arche's broadsword. Barely able to block the sword with the pistol-hatchets, Lockon was sent reeling back, opening his leg to a thrust from that large sword.

"Damn cheater!" Lockon swore. "You turned early!"

"I protest that accusation!" Ali said with an affronted tone. "I took my three steps… backwards! It's your fault for not specifying which direction! Who's the fool now, Mr. Gundam?! Bringing a gun to a knife fight!"

"But that's a broadsword!"

"That's just how I roll!"

---

**I-!**

---

Taking just a few moments longer to check her weapon again, Sumeragi felt a rush of terror flow through her veins as she bumped into a tall mass turning the corner. Were the autonomatons already this close to the bridge? But then she saw who it was.

"Billy!"

"Kujo," the tall man acknowledged as he recovered, none of the warmth or energy that she once knew in his eyes. But a glimpse behind him was enough to find a pressing explanation why; already the automatons behind him were turning their guns in their direction. Clearly they weren't concerned for what happened to him.

"Billy, get down!" she ordered with her strongest command presence, taking him by surprise as she immediately grabbed him close and threw them both backwards, safely behind the corner immediately before the machine cannons fired. They flew backwards in a low-gravity roll, with Sumeragi guiding them both towards relative safety.

Billy, who Kujo was sure had never fought a real battle in his life, began to do what many in a near death situation do: he began to struggle. "Let me go, Kujo!" he shouted, trying to push away from her. From the standpoint of a strategic expert, she could deduce that he was trying to get some sort of control over the situation.

But Sumeragi had found her motivation, her reason for being. It wasn't to end wars anymore, it was to protect and save those she cared about. And so with a soldier's resolve she swiftly beat down Billy's attempts to struggle without hurting him too much, all while pushing off walls to go down not-quite random corridors, leaving the automatons falling behind. The machines were having a hard time in the Ptolemy's low-gravity environment, and the special composites making the floor reduced the effectiveness of magnetic grips.

And so, with a bit of safety as she led brought them closer to the bridge, Sumeragi turned her full attention to her unexpected charge. "Billy," she asked, "what are you doing here?"

"A-LAWS," he answered simply, still trying to struggle in ways she effortlessly beat down.

"A-LAWS!" she gasped. "Since when?" But before he could answer, though, her own mind raced through the past happenings. "Don't tell me… after the Break Pillar incident? Someone recognized me from my transmission, and singled you out to be used against me? Billy, I am truly sorry I put you in danger, but the A-LAWS were bringing down the tower! I know it's hard to believe, but you have to trust me on that!"

"I know," he said, "but that wasn't it, Kujo. It was earlier, when-"

"Kati Mannequin," Sumeragi bit out, her thought speed light-years ahead of Billy. "She knew who I was. She must have sent it up in a report." She risked a glimpse at Billy's face, which was a mix of emotions of the moment. It would be unfair to blame him; he must have had a very stressful time of late. Even now he couldn't stop struggling, though his attempts had begun to lessen.

"Not Kati," Billy said. "My Uncle. I went to see him and-"

Sumeragi cut him off once again. "Your Uncle?! I knew he was the head of A-LAWS, but to force his own Nephew to do this… or was it the Innovators who brought you here? Did you Uncle draft to you design mobile suits for the A-LAWS?" If so, it would explain so much of the recent Innovator designs; Billy was a master of design, a fact no one could deny.

"I made mobile suits for A-LAWS," Billy admitted, bitter anger in his tone even as he finally stopped his futile struggling. "And I'm the one who re-developed trans-am. I did it, Kujo, and I-"

"I know, and it's alright," Sumeragi soothed, easily forgiving the kind and gentle man she remembered so fondly. "The A-LAWS forced you to, and were telling you their lies of all the destruction we caused. You felt you had to cooperate. But that's over now. After this battle, we'll have taken their means of information control and the truth of their actions will come out. You won't have to make weapons anymore."

"Kujo, I don't think you understand what I've done," Billy said. "I-"

"There will be time for that later," she promised, bringing them to a stop in front of the bridge. "But for now, you're safe." Punching the code, the door opened and both Feldt and Millenia looked anxiously at the door.

"Mrs. Sumeragi, you're back! Are you alri- who's this?" Feldt asked upon realizing Sumeragi was holding someone.

"This is Billy," Sumeragi briefed them quickly. "He was drafted into A-LAWS, and the Innovators brought him on board to use against me. He's had a hard time of late; please take care of him for me." With the arm she had wrapped around Billy, she pushed him towards the door. "I'm going to make sure the Automatons don't reach here, at any cost," she promised.

"Kujo!" Billy shouted, recovering from his stumble into the bridge. "I won't let you!" he declared, pulling the small pistol he had been wearing but had been unable to draw when she had held him tight and maneuvered him towards the bridge.

But Sumeragi, in an impressive showing of her old training as a soldier, quickly and deftly disarmed him, knocking the pistol from his grip. "That pistol won't affect those Automatons," she reminded him. "I'm sorry, Billy, but I have to do this alone." Even though she could hear the automatons approaching, she risked the time for one last, brief embrace with him with one arm, the other holding the assault rifle she had originally left with. "I know it doesn't mean much anymore, but for what it's worth… I'm sorry it had to turn out like this, Billy."

Stepping back, the sliding door closed between them with finality, and Sumeragi locked the door from the outside. She heard Billy's curses, could almost see him punch the door, and with a small sad smile she turned and headed towards the automatons, that much more resolved to protect one more person.

Inside the bridge, Feldt and Millenia watched their new companion slowly give up on reopening the door, falling to his knees. "Kujo…" they heard from him. Millenia was the first to speak.

"Er, excuse me," she said, getting his attention, "I'm sorry to ask this, but… are you two lovers?" And that was the point at which Billy gave up.

---


	24. Dear Mr Erde

---

00 Drabble 24

Dear Mr. Erde…

---

_To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart. _

-Phyllis Theroux

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

To start, I hope this reaches you properly. I know you aren't in a position to read it directly now, and even if you were, I would still have to apologize for the mess. I've never written an actual letter before, and as you can surely tell my handwriting is atrocious. Who writes by hand anymore? But Ms. Grace told me that she had written such a letter for the first Lockon, and so I felt it would just be proper if I did the same for you.

Not that you're dead, of course! Or you are, but aren't. I admit I don't quite understand what happened to you; they said you were gone but not dead, and Mr. Seiei assured me you would get this letter somehow.

I think I'm starting to ramble now. Please forgive me, it's just that I've never written one of these before and I'm not sure what to say. I just know that it really hurt when I thought you had died, and I am very sad that you won't be returning to us. I know that you have to stay where you are, that Celestial Being isn't simply forgiven and accepted by the world, and that there's so much left to be done, but…

I'll miss you. You'll never be there to answer my questions, and it's like I'll never talk to you again. I'm sure you'll be much too busy now to humor a young girl anyway. But I wish nonetheless.

I think I'm straying again, so I suppose I should end here. Farewell, Mr. Erde.

Most fondly,

Mileina Vashti

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

Really?! Do you mean it? Thank you so much, Mr. Erde! Even if it's only by mail, I'm so happy that we can keep in touch. Even from inside Veda, you're still so kind. I promise you, I will always remember to respond to you by email. No, not by email… by real mail, the truest expression of a maiden's heart!

Oh, there's so much to say, but I can't find the words! Everything is so different now. Celestial Being is returning to the shadows again. Mr. Haptism is so happy with Marie (Is she Ms. Peries or Ms. Parfacy is the daily question!), and they're content to live in peace. Mr. Stratos is also still with Celestial Being, ready to intervene at a moment's notice.

Others are going their own way, now, but it's not sad. Well, maybe a little; I didn't know him well, but seeing Mr. Seiei leave was sad, but I know as a true Innovator it will be for the best for the upcoming Dialogue. I was a bit disappointed to see Mr. Crossroad leave, but I forgive him because he finally reunited with his true love. They're even getting married next month! Isn't that romantic?

Oh, there's so much left to say, but I haven't the time. With so few people I have even more work to do, and I still have to pick out a dress for the wedding. I'll be sure to tell you all about it, Mr. Erde!

Yours truly,

Mileinia Vashti

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

Oh, I wish you could have seen it, it was all so _beautiful_! Everything! Everyone was dressed up so perfectly, and the weather was just marvelous, and the bride was just so beautiful!

Everyone was there, Mr. Erde. Everyone from Celestial Being, and a number who weren't and were apparently on the other side during the war. But no one cared. Mrs. Sumeragi was there with Mr. Katagiri, and Mr. Haptism and Mrs. Parfacy were the other big couple there. Mrs. Parfacy was even the Chief Bridesmaid; apparently she and the bride knew each other from the A-LAWS. (I was just a Bridesmaid myself, I'm afraid.)

There were a lot of people there, many I've never seen, but you know who showed up without a warning? Mr. Seiei! He came back just for the wedding, apparently, and was even the Best man. I don't know how they contacted him to arrange it, but he escorted Mss. Halevy down the carpet, and even stayed for the reception. Everyone was so glad to see him; I saw him and Mr. Crossroad talking, and you could just tell that he was glad he came. It really meant a lot to him.

I can't say just how wonderful a day it was, Mr. Erde. I wish you had been there in person, and not just watching through the cameras. You could have even seen me catch the garter, and you know what that means!

I hope I have a day like that someday. It really would be wonderful. And just between you and me, and don't tell my father, I think there's a guy my age back at Celestial Being who's caught my eye… it might be love! I've caught him looking at me recently, and I'm working up the courage to speak to him. Wish me luck, Mr. Erde!

Please keep my secret,

Mileinia Vashti

---

Mr. Erde,

You betrayed a maiden's trust trust. How could you? To think I confided in you all these last few years! You can't lie about it; you're the only one I've breathed a word about Michael to, and we promised each other that we wouldn't tell a soul.

Not that you have a soul anymore, do you Mr. Erde? No soul and no shame, wrapped up in that precious computer of yours. To be confronted by my own father with such a scandalous video evidence in hand? That was beyond the pall, Mr. Erde; I don't care how omniscient Veda is, there are some things even you should not spy on.

I know you didn't approve of Michael, and neither did my father. No one here does. But I never thought you would go so far. Believe it or not we are in love, Mr. Erde. We are true lovers, and nothing you or my parents say will change that. My Maiden's Intuition will prove you all wrong!

But you'll only be watch from now on, Mr. Erde, because from now on I never want to hear from you again. Ever. Don't even bother replying to this last letter; I won't open anything from you, and I'll be even more unhappy with you if you try and mask your writing as someone else's. I may not be a quantum computer, but I can spot the differences.

This would be where the goodbye would be, but right now I don't want to wish you good. Or even a farewell. I just want you away from me, forever.

-Mileinia Vashti

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

I know it's been awhile. I'm not even sure if you will respond to this; I wouldn't blame you if you don't, not after what I said. I can't even ask for your forgiveness for what my accusations. All I can say is… I'm sorry. I truly am.

You didn't record that video, even if you surely knew about it. I didn't want to believe it for so long, I rejected everyone who tried to help me, choosing to foolishly believe his lies. I deluded myself, and I never would have realized it had I not overheard him boasting about it to those louts he calls his friends. Even then I nearly refused to believe it.

I didn't think I would write this letter. I wouldn't have, but Feldt told me I should when I went to her after realizing the truth. She told me that it would be best to put it on paper, and that I should be honest with my feelings. And they tell me that I owe you at least the admission that you were right, and I was wrong.

It hurts to say that. A lot. It feels like a hole's been torn in my heart; I trusted, I believed, and he took advantage of that, and of me. It's such a scandal, everyone must know, and I'm so ashamed of myself. I doubt anyone could respect me after how I've acted these last several months. But it's no more than what I deserve.

What you didn't deserve, though, was my hasty anger. For what little it's worth, even if you never bother to reply, I'm sorry. From the bottom of my foolish heart, I am so very sorry.

Sincerely,

Mileinia Vashti

---

Dearest Mr. Erde,

You are a far better person than I could ever hope to be. Your words mean a lot to me, and so do your actions. I was surprised how quickly Michael was mysteriously transferred to the asteroid belt, but that was your doing, wasn't it? Even before my letter likely got to you. It made me think, and realize something. Even when I forbid you to talk to me, you were looking out for me. Looking back, I see events that I had attributed to chance or luck, but I know they must have been you. Even when I put you out of mind, you never stopped looking after me.

The aftermath of Michael is still going on, but I know I'm finally making progress. You were right when you said that there would still be people who cared enough to stand up for me. Everyone was, even if I couldn't see it at the time. Only hours after I wrote the last letter and fell into a mournful sleep, Mr. Haptism and Mr. Stratos both arrived at the base and immediately confronted Michael with hard words and even harder blows. I think Feldt must have had something to do with that; she has been supporting me the entire time, and not merely out of pity as I had feared.

And most importantly, I've finally reconciled with my Father. I think only he was more hurt by my actions than you, and afterwards I was terrified he would spitefully hold it over my head forever. But he didn't. I know he had strong views on the matter (we certainly fought loud enough over them), but he's being very understanding. It's times like these I'm reminded of just how fortunate I really am, to be blessed with such wonderful friends and family. And you, of course, are as close to both as can be.

I'm sorry I have to go now, but I've resolved to work harder around here, both to make up to my father, and to help Celestial Being towards the new future. It's not merely about me anymore. But rest assured, Mr. Erde, you retain a special place in my heart, and I will be sure to write to you often once again.

Yours truly,

Mileinia Vashti

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

Has it already been a decade since I last saw you, gallantly launching from the Ptolemaios? And yet, even now, I can remember just how charming you were in your pilot suit, set to reclaim Veda from the Innovators.

Oh, but how time flies! Now we remember them as the Innovades, because true Innovators like Setsuna are being born. And to think Mr. Crossroad would have been among them; do you think it was from so many sorties in the 00 Raiser, and so many trips inside it? Or was it because Mr. Crossroad has been involved with the construction of new GN drives for the world, and he's had so much more exposure there? Either way, he seems happy enough, and I understand his second son is on the way. The last one is still so cute, though I never heard why they named the boy Soran. Was that the name of Mrs. Crossroad's father, do you think? Either way, he's still the gentle and kind man I remember.

Mr. Crossroad isn't the only person to have changed (or not changed) over the years, though. Mr. and Mrs. Haptism remain just as much in love, and Mrs. Sumeragi finally got around to marrying her own love, even if they agreed that she would keep her name. That was a wedding to remember; she looked so beautiful in her gown, even if the baby was beginning to show. And do you remember when Setsuna arrived late in the 00, and in the panic of a possible attack the Best Man launched his nearby mobile suit? Mr. Katagiri still won't let him live that down, or so I hear.

Not everyone's gone down the marriage path though. Though I hear Lasse may or may not be interested in some girl he refuses to talk about, Mr. Stratos has settled firmly into bachelorhood. Not that he's unhappy, he's like the big brother to everyone in Celestial being these days, but I think he remembers Mrs. Returner to this day. I tell him she would want him to move on and be happy, but he always shakes his head and asks me when I intend to do the same.

…and though I haven't told anyone else yet, I think I might. I know I mentioned Darian, one of the mechanics, to you? How he asked me to dinner a while ago, and how we've been strictly social up to now? Well, he just asked me to this year's social ball. Normally I would have said no to most anyone else, but I remembered that you've written approvingly of him in our past correspondences, and so I agreed.

Just between you and me, I think he expected to be shot down. I think I've gained a bit of a reputation as a beautiful untouchable, and Mr. Stratos's Big Brother antics don't help. Darian even knows of Michael, and what happened to him afterwards. But he's been dancing around asking me out for weeks now, and to be honest my woman's intuition approves of him. Not like it did with Michael, and so I leaned on your own opinion, but I think he means well. I _want_ to give him a chance.

But if he gets a few threatening anonymous warnings against harming me, and has an ulcer at the prospect of meeting my father, that's just weeding out the weak. Isn't that right, Mr. Erde?

Your dear friend,

Mileinia Vashti

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

I'm sorry to send you this email, but I don't can't wait for a regular letter to get to you. I don't wish to break a tradition nearly twenty-five years in the making, but Darian just came across your letters and I'm afraid… I'm afraid he believes I've been having an affair. I'd never told him of you, you see, and so when he stumbled across your letters, which I keep in a memory box…

I can't believe this is happening, Mr. Erde. Have I ever given the man cause to question my fidelity? These have been some of the happiest years of my life, and I've born him two children for Heaven's sake! But he wouldn't, couldn't, listen to me when I tried to explain. He was so afraid, and I stumbled in my explanation and now-

He had already been drinking by the time I came home, and so his judgment… If you're worried that he might have hit me when he confronted me, don't. My husband is a gentle man, just as both you and my father said when both of you approved of him all those years ago. He put the children to bed and didn't so much as raise a hand to me.

But he fled after confronting me, and we haven't been able to find him since. Mr. Stratos is already searching the streets, and so are many of the others. But they're getting older, Mr. Erde. Mrs. Sumeragi's years of drinking are finally catching up to her, and the Haptisms and others have settled down far away. I'm not sure they can help in a situation like this.

My husband is a kind man, a good man. But he is also the sort of man to blame himself and act disproportionately. Please, help us find him. Help us make him understand, before he does something we will all regret. I don't want to lose my husband, not to a misunderstanding like this.

For all that our friendship over the years has mattered to you, please Mr. Erde.

Earnestly,

Mileinia Vashti

---

Dear Mr. Verde,

I wanted to personally thank you for your condolences. My father lived a full life, and one he was proud to have lived, able to build something meaningful that helped change the world for the better. For an engineer like himself, that was all he could hope for in life, and indeed he did. He lived a happy and content life.

In some ways, I think he was glad to go peacefully when he did. My father told me that he always wanted to be the first to pass on of the crew of the Ptolemaios; he was the oldest, he would say, and it would be sad if younger people died before him. He reasoned that if he passed on of natural causes before the rest, it would mean that we had all survived and won. I think knowing that he was right for the better part of fifty years after the war made his later life that much better, even after my mother died last year.

Wherever he is now, I know he is happy. He was firmly convinced that if there was an afterlife, he would wind up back with Celestial Being some way or another. Doctor Moreno, Lichtendahl, Christina, those who died in the first war. Others who died in the second. Those who have passed since then. But my father had the blessing to pass on surrounded by friends and family, and the funeral saw many familiar faces.

Familiar, but so much older. My only regret is the knowledge that some will follow sooner rather than later, even in this age of modern medicine. I don't recall Mr. Haptism having so many white hairs, or of Mrs. Crossroad having so many wrinkles when she isn't that much older than me. But worst of all is Mrs. Sumeragi. The years of alcohol, of self-neglect are showing, even with nanomachines. She's trying to stay strong for Mr. Katagiri's sake, but she knows. Barring something horrible, the next funeral will be hers.

It's natural, but sad none the less. We can end wars, understand hearts, and colonize space, but we still can't conquer death. But then, if we did, we might not appreciate what we do have.

I need to go now, Mr. Erde. The grandchildren will be arriving soon, and they'll be so energetic. Just how did my father put up with me when I was that age?

Your faithful correspondence,

Mileinia Vashti

p.s.: Darian sends his regards.

p.s.s.: He actually sends more, but commenting over my shoulder does him no favors. Maybe next letter.

---

Dear Mr. Erde,

Happy seventy-fifth Deathday, Mr. Erde! It really has been that long. Time passes, and it's almost as if it's faded into a mist so that no one can recall it. But I remember. I remember them all, even if my memory these days isn't what it once was.

I remember the Haptisms before they were the Haptisms, when they were two young lovers bound together by fate and human modification. Even if they outlive all of us yet, I remember when they were young and vibrant, not old and content to watch time go by with their grandchildren.

I remember Lockon Stratos and Lasse when they were vibrant men in their prime. I am one of the few who remembers them before they passed on at respectable ages, one leaving a legend and the other leaving a legacy of a single child to carry his name.

I remember Feldt, dear Feldt who helped me in my times of need and waited the longest of all of us to be with the one she loved. I remember her, see her still, as the strongest woman I have ever known. No one was sadder at her loss but happier in her memory than when her life was traded for the life of her child at birth. After so many years, so many dashed hopes, I knew she would have carried through again.

I remember Mrs. Sumeragi, who indeed was the next after my father to pass away, a legend in the history of military commanders as the woman who ended wars between humans. I stand witness to how she regained her passion for life, how she carried on. And at the same time, I remember even Mr. Katagiri, who like a songbird followed his life's love soon after. He left his own legacy of power and accomplishments, one to stand beside and in contrast with Mrs. Sumeragi's.

I remember the Crossroads. I stood outside the door when Louise Crossroad passed away, I bore witness to Saji's cries as she say her parents once again. I remember how he quietly vanished during the night, never to be seen again.

And though I have never told another soul other than my husband, I alone remember the last and final time Setsuna F. Seiei stepped foot on amongst us. Most believe it was Feldt's funeral, on one of his few final visits between his preparations for the Dialogue.

But I remember that it was the evening Louise Crossroad passed away. Most of the others had gone away, gone to bed. They had given Saji his space, let him simply sit beside his love for one final night. I, too, had left, and only witnessed the sight because I had to fetch something or another for one of the children. I stepped outside, and saw it. The twin drives, towering over the house.

At first I didn't see it, so dark was the night. Then I thought I was hallucinating. But at the sight of movement in the house, I crept forward to observe through the open window. I saw their eyes, the glowing gold of Innovation. There were no words, not even a gesture besides a sympathetic arm on the bereaved's shoulder. Between Innovators, no such words are necessary. And then, with some unspoken message between them, Saji Crossroads rose and followed Setsuna out of the room. Soon the twin drives left into the sky as silently as they arrived, and in the morning no sign of either man remained. I never said anything; it didn't feel like it was my place to.

And so I remember them all, Mr. Erde. I remember. But of them all, on this day I remember you best. Not for how you died, but for how you lived, both then and now.

Yours faithfully,

Mileinia Vashti

p.s.: Darian insists I remember to remind you that we still have no idea what sort of gift to give you on this or any other occasion. You cracked those last codes so easily, and we spent weeks crafting them!

---

Dearest Tieria,

I'm afraid this will be the last letter I can write to you. Even now it takes the mightiest of efforts to raise this pen, and I tire so easily from the slightest things these days.

I do not have much longer, my dear Meister. I have known this day was coming for some time. I am the last, if not the least, of our great ship. All the others have either passed away before me or left for unknown Dialogues. But I will rejoin them soon. My bones are weary, my eyes tired. Soon I will rest, and like my father I know that I will once again open my eyes on that beautiful ship, alive in spirit if not in flesh. My friends, my family, and even dear Darian await me there. I know it.

But before I go, I make one last wish, a wish so selfish I only dared utter it in the foolishness of my youth. Once, long long ago, I demanded you never speak to me again. Now I ask the opposite: please, just one more time. I wish to see you again.

Farewell,

Mileinia Vashti

---

_"You're as beautiful as I remember you," the bedridden woman marveled softly. "It's as if you just returned from that battle, not a day having passed."_

_"If only," her young visitor replied. "Then you wouldn't be here now."_

_"Bah," said the old women, refusing to dwell on it. "I was destined to die the moment I was born. All humans are. The difference is that some get a final request granted, and some don't. I never expected mine to be granted to such an extent."_

_"You asked to see me, and so I came," the purple haired man said. "Isn't seeing, believing?"_

_"Not with eyes like these!" cackled the patient, for a moment not sounding as close to death as she was. "I only meant one final reply, but you came all this way so quickly!"_

_"It was the least I could do," he said. _

_"And yet far more than I deserve," countered the woman affectionately, leaning further into her bed pillows. "You've always looked out for me, haven't you?" she asked._

_"It was the human thing to do," he demurred. "Anyone should have."_

_"But only you did," she countered. "You are the most human person I have ever known, rivaled only by my late husband." She sighed, sinking deeper into her final bed. "Oh, Darian…"_

_"You'll see him soon," her eternal companion promised. "He's waiting for you."_

_"…will you come too, later?" she asked, a hint of uncertainty in her tone. But he nodded._

_"Later," he promised. "Even Veda must change, must innovate. And when that time comes, I will be there."_

_"I'm glad," she said, fighting the urge to close her eyes. "You deserve to. You truly are beautiful." She did not mean merely of body, but of spirit._

_"Rest," he bid her, gently covering her eyes. "I'll be here to the last."_

_"You're too kind," she chided even as her body slowed. "I think… that's why I loved you first."_

_He leaned over, giving her a final, gentle embrace. "I'm sorry I had to leave you," he apologized, giving her a soft, chaste kiss on her forehead. _

_"-didn't," she murmured. "You were always there, guiding and protecting. To the man I married, and beyond."_

_"I did," he acknowledged. _

_"Thank you, Tieria," she the wizened woman whispered one last time, and then her breathing fell silent._

_Tieria left shortly afterwards. There was little left for him to do. Regene awaited him, the Dialogue needed to be continued, and the Plan must be continued. But, before that, he took the time to finish one last task. Sitting down, he carefully took out a piece of paper and began to write one final letter, much as others had done before._

"Dear Mielinia Vashti…"


End file.
